Numero Group keeps on digging deeper into ‘Cosmic Americana’

Back in the late sixties and early seventies a new musical term cropped up as a description of roots/country music souped up by psych rock, or roots music played by rock artists in search of new elements within their sound.

The term as such is attributed to the late, great Gram Parsons, who is also considered as one of the progenitors of the sound. Quite a number of artists took that musical route, some including Parsons himself, like The Byrds and Flying Burrito Brothers, others dabbling with the sound throughout their careers like Neil Young, The Grateful Dead, and Los Lobos.

Most of cosmic country remained in the realms of fandom, particularly at the time, with the true commercial breakthrough  being The Eagles, but then their sound went somewhere else.

Chicago’s Numero Group, one of the true exploring labels seeking to find gems in various musical genres also took on the task to uncover worthy but mainly obscure artists who picked up on the Parsons’ concept and tried, and often succeeded to take it to new musical heights. For most of them, commercial heights never came.

Numero Uno explores a unique subgenre

Numero’s first volume of Cosmic Americana was released back in 2016 as part of the label’s Wayfaring Strangers series (Wayfaring Strangers: Cosmic American Music), and now, in 2024, Numero has released a companion album Cosmic American Music: Motel California.

Both compilations focus on the more obscure artists, most of which released their music through private presses, with the  first one concentrating on the artists that were steeped in trying to discover new realms of the sound, with their subculture roots showing strongly.

The Motel California set also relies on the private presses but takes a look at those artists that took cues from The Eagles’ success, but never reaching it themselves, even though their music at least matched the quality of The Eagles.

In any case, both sets are worthy of the attention not only that of the fans of the genre, but those that want to get familiar with it.