Q: Cool & Unusual, interesting name for a CD; where did that name come from? Also, tell me about the artwork.
A: The title is a pun— I like the odd pun every now and then. I also felt that some people know me more in the Austin/Roots-Blues-Folk scene rather than this experimental Rock vibe I got going on in this project, so it’s unusual to them, even though I’ve been writing songs like this a long time! The cover painting is by Alberto Mijangos, and hangs on the wall in Allan Gill’s studio where we cut the record… I kept looking at it.

Q: There is a lot going on with this CD. Talk about the people that are playing on it, and why you chose those certain instruments.

A: I have always wanted to expand the sonic landscape of my work and really love cello,mellotron, tabla— things like that. I have known Derek Morris a long while, done projects and bands together, and through him I met the cellist, the drummer, come to think of it, the harmony singer also! I wanted a sound that could hit hard in an electric sense, but also be organic and acoustic as well— blending the two is really a challenge!

Q: Some of these songs sound like they were written today and others sound like they were written in the 60’s. How did you pick the songs that would go on this CD?

A: When I wrote Nothing, it really jump-started the idea of doing a more pop project. I have had Last Night around for a long, long time, but couldn’t really fit it in to what I did before, and it’s a bear to play— just about every chord known to man is in that one! I really think of the first 7 songs as an EP, then the trick was to add a couple more unreleased items I had hanging around— there’s always something left over after a session that I can’t figure where it belongs… use it or save it? I really just wanted stuff that I liked, then had to figure what would hang together, and what wouldn’t. My wife gets a big nod for encouraging me to just do something I like, and not worry too much about what would sell or please everyone else. Lance Miller is a Houston-based DJ and long time music fan and follower.

Lance Miller is a Houston-based DJ and long time music fan and follower.

The first thing to notice looking at the cover for Cool and Unusual, Rick Poss’s third solo studio album is the visual allusion to the cover of Charles Mingus’s legendary record Ah Um.  Far from plagiarism, this cover’s identical font, color palate and formatting are obvious nods to the unique artistic ethos Poss shares with one of his foremost musical influences.  Nothing sums up this philosophy better than Mingus’s own declaration that: “Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that’s creative.” Indeed, it’s the “awesomely simple” that makes Cool and Unusal stand out.  In Poss’s previous two albums, From Greenville to Clarksville and The Dying Man, we see Poss seeking to step away from his steady gun supporting guitarist reputation and stake his claim as credible front man.  This latest record is something quite different however.  Comfortable in his own skin, Poss reveals himself in full with nothing to lose and even less to prove.  The result is a tightly curated, ten-track offering that seeks creative expression above commercial legitimacy.  The consummate bluesman turned avante-garde rock star, Poss doesn’t so much straddle the line between literary pop music and raw punk as he does reinvent it.  With a  supporting retinue of accomplished and virtuoso musicians in their own right, combined with the steady hand of Allan Gill’s clean recording, the album carries old and new listeners alike on a startling journey stretching from delta blues, to hard bop, to raw, early English punk. The fact that this complicated combination of style and influence plays not as esoteric and unapproachable, but simple and honestly creative, is the true triumph of the album.

Jeremy Nail