SWAMP RAT
Swamp Rat began as a way for Dan Cohen to express the "ditties" that were swimming around in his brilliant but unstable mind. After playing some songs and ideas for bassist and sonic wizard James Cook and drummer and prophet Derek Mixon, the magic that is Swamp Rat was born. The Swamp Rat guys are all professional players out of Nashville who have toured with artists such as Tracy Byrd, Doug Stone, T. Graham Brown, SheDaisy, and Aaron Lines.
All three of the members of Swamp Rat hail from Louisiana. Derek and James met there back in the day; for years they formed the rhythm section of the band Howard Shaft. They met Dan when they were hired to play behind Brad Martin. Like most Nashville musicians supported by “the industry,†they each had a number of side projects that were a little more creative than the mainstream.
These fellas have spent many days on the road together playing music; they have an almost psychic, or perhaps psychotic, connection. And that's a good thing, because their musical ideas and influences are all over the map. To cook up Swamp Rat's sound, they combined Texas-style swing with the eclectic tendencies of Latin Jazz, folded in a little twang and then basted liberally with the aggressive style of Louisiana beats.
Swamp Rat, along with a stream of Grammy-winning (and nominated) guest artists, went into the studio with Brett "Scoop" Blanden, Captain James Cook, and Dennis Gulley, and churned out some cool and witty tunes for their long-awaited record, creatively titled Swamp Rat.
Swamp Rat was released in late 2008 under the Weston Boys label and is available from all major online vendors. It features guest artists Johnny Neel , Tracy Byrd , Paul Deakin (of The Mavericks), Steve Wariner, and Sam Bush . The CD art is by artist extraordinaire Marc Hempel.