American Zen

Collection Contents

#		Title	Length
1		Too Late For Me	3:01	Play
2		I Want Mine	3:14	Play
3		Ripped Off	3:48	Play
4		Waking Up Alone	3:23	Play
5		Mt. Everest	3:54	Play
6		Fight Song	2:26	Play
7		Summer Girls	3:36	Play
8		The Ballad of Bobby Badass	2:50	Play
9		Innerphonic	1:56	Play
10		Broken Hearted	5:27	Play
11		Rhythm of the Night	2:53	Play
12		Little Girl	3:19	Play
13		Hey You	4:40	Play
14		Watch It Burn	6:01	Play

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Description	Amount
Bitmunk Marketplace Service	USD $0.98
CD Baby Artist Royalty	USD $5.97
CD Baby 9% Digital Distribution Cost	USD $0.54
Bitmunk Download Service	USD $0.69
Bitmunk MicroPayment Service	USD $0.01
Total	USD $8.17

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Description

recent Detroit reviews:

COWBOY MESSIAH American Zen (self-released)
"4 Stars"
"It's not often that a band comes along that can play a variety of styles that include rock, country, groove, punk, and even ska and combine it all into one sound that is uniquely their own. Cowboy Messiah manages to do so here, and that is no easy feat... On their debut album, "American Zen" one can hear that their extensive stage experience paid off and has molded them into a tight well-oiled machine that sounds right at home in the studio... American Zen starts out with two rocking tunes, "Too Late For Me" and "I Want Mine" then settles down a bit and grooves along by the third and fourth tracks. One of their most different and interesting songs both musically and lyrically is the intense ballad "Mt. Everest" a definate highlight of the disc. The CD picks up again with the high energy, aptly named "Fight Song" which is my other standout pick here... The best thing about Cowboy Messiah's "American Zen" is that there really is something for everyone on this disc, and that's the American way!"
-Sue Static - excerpted from Static Feedback published by InFlame Magazine "The Motor City's Underground Music & Arts Rag" Jan. '07 Vol. 1; No. 4.


COWBOY MESSIAH American Zen (self-released)
American Zen if not a possible oxymoron, may be an apt way to express the soulful, contemplative, silly and sometimes rock-a-billy songs that comprise this CD from Cowboy Messiah. Ranging from acoustic mellow tones that stretch into hard rock to a mournful ode to Mt Everest complete with deep blues harmonica, American Zen seems to cover it all.

Moving you with the Stray Cats style, Bobby Badass, a sure bar favorite - to Innerphonic with its intricate play on various modes that work seamlessly together in a way that few can duplicate, American Zen keeps you tuned in and tuned out to everything else.

Only those who have truly been a cowboy and studied the various religions of the world would be capable of putting out an album like this. It mystifies, demystifies and defies and then makes everything alright at the same time. Look for Tantric Sex disguised as pure horniness, dreams of young girls where there are none and disillusions of grandeur. Pick up a six-pack, smoke that thing and dig in.

Some of us are meant to teach. Some of us have to buy the CD.
-Annie Houston; UniversalSoul Media - 12/7/06




"...I've got one word for you, "FUCKINGWOW!" I'm impressed. Here are the toons I liked best:
1-Waking Up Alone
2-Innerphonic
3-Broken Hearted
4-Rhythm Of The Night
5-Little Girl (very Blues Travelerish)
6-Mt. Everest
7-Fight Song
8-Watch It Burn."
- Rob Brandt, Production Director WLAV FM Grand Rapids, MI


"I played Mt. Everest on my show on Sunday... a very well produced and well packaged CD."
- Ralph Valdez, WDET FM, Detroit, MI


"We love Cowboy Messiah!"
-Razor and Di, WLUW FM, Chicago, IL


COWBOY MESSIAH's American Zen was produced and recorded by John Smerek at The White Room in Detroit, MI, during the last week of April, 2006.

Cowboy Messiah is:
Andrew Lindblom - guitars and vocals
Tommy Lee Torgerson, Jr. - Drums, percussion, harmonica
j - bass

Jacket art and design by Marc Nischan (Good Art For Bad Eggs - marcnischan.com)



Letter from the band:

Thank you for coming here to check out American Zen, (and presumably other independent selections), we truly hope you like what you've found. (Do they let you listen to the songs while you read this? There are no speakers on this machine, so we can only hope that things are agreeable and working perfectly where you are.) At any rate, we've made this CD and we want you to want it. (Badly.)

Since we all know that everything happens for a reason, the very fact that you've found yourself here, clearly indicates that you should buy one or two copies for luck. Plus, we are completely confident that at least one of the tracks on this CD was written specifically for you. (Probably two.)

Ok, this part is all very new to us... We're musicians. We run through burning ideologies screaming pro-librarian slogans then leap into the deep night sky, heedless to the obvious, and well thought out arguments of sister Gravity, (or we stay up all night and write songs). We are not at all designed for the part of this "job" which calls for a suit and tie... (Praise your favorite Big Guy for sunglasses.)

Anyway, since nobody else will do it, and since we're getting pretty hungry, we are trying to do it ourselves, which is turning out to be nearly impossible.... ("People who say it can't be done, shouldn't yada yada blah")

Alright, fine... but we've done a little research, and it turns out that "word of mouth advertising" is the ONLY way to go... (it's also the ONLY way we can afford),(at any rate, we have it on very high authority that "word of mouth", (or "wom" among industry folk), is "the answer", as the drunk guy who told us so had very long hair).

All we're trying to say is, thank you for giving us a chance, that is all we could ever ask for. We hope American Zen is the album you've been waiting for, but if it's not, please tell your friends about it, because maybe they'll dig it, and we are very nice guys who could seriously use a lucky break, (unlike all those nice guys who couldn't use one).

Your friends in the rock band,
Cowboy Messiah