Performer Notes

Teenage Fanclub: Norman Blake, Gerard Love, Raymond McGinley.
Additional personnel includes: Mike Cooke (trumpet, tuba); Megan Childs (violin); Sharon Fitzgerald (French horn).
Recorded between August 1999 and March 2000.
Despite debuting in the early '90s with a grunged-up, dirty sound, Scotland's Teenage Fanclub eventually settled into a pastoral, power pop paradise that continues on their sixth album, HOWDY. Blending their by-now-familiar mix of blissed-out, Byrdsian country-pop and dense, sunny Beach Boys melodies, HOWDY sets the groundwork early with the chiming chorus of "I Need Direction," a blissed out slice of sun-dappled pop.
The album continues in this no-worries vein on such three-part harmony confections as "Accidental Life," "Dumb Dumb Dumb," and "My Uptight Life," which, despite their seemingly bummer titles, are gently strummed odes to hope, inspiration, and learning from mistakes. "What I know, I know, and I know where I belong," singer/songwriters Norman Blake, Gerard Love and Raymond McGinley sing on "I Can't Find My Way Home." The sentiment could serve as the group's calling card

Professional Reviews

Rolling Stone (3/14/02, p.71) - 3 out of 5 stars - "...typically sunny Fanclub, yet more nuanced and colorful....arrangements balance ringing guitars with organ, keyboards and occasional strings and horns....They've never sounded more comfortable and in control."

Entertainment Weekly (2/01/02, p.107) - "...The 'club's most satisfying collection since 1990's A CATHOLIC EDUCATION..." - Rating: B+

Q (11/00, p.117) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...The album's sunny joie de vivre is the work of a band with no pressure and nothing to lose....Few bands epitomise so well the virtues of not fixing that which isn't broken."

Alternative Press (3/02, p.86) - 9 out of 10 - "...Rich and deep. HOWDY nicely continues their evolution from Brit-grunge to pop classicists..."

Melody Maker (10/24/00, p.60) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...It's clear that [they] are in fine fettle indeed....you'd be hard pushed to find country-pop nuggets with even half the huggable chutzpah, even a quarter of the buoyant melody and rampant optimism..."

Album: Howdy!
#	Song Title	Time
1)	I Need Direction
2)	I Can't Find My Way Home
3)	Accidental Life
4)	Near You
5)	Happiness
6)	Dumb Dumb Dumb
7)	Town and the City, The
8)	Sun Shines from You, The
9)	Straight and Narrow
10)	Cul de Sac
11)	My Uptight Life
12)	If I Never See You Again

Album: Howdy!
#	Song Title	Time
1)	I Need Direction
2)	I Can't Find My Way Home
3)	Accidental Life
4)	Near You
5)	Happiness
6)	Dumb Dumb Dumb
7)	Town and the City, The
8)	Sun Shines from You, The
9)	Straight and Narrow
10)	Cul de Sac
11)	My Uptight Life
12)	If I Never See You Again