Sneak of the Week: The Blue Shadows “Coming On Strong”

Editor’s Note: We’re excited about this new feature, “Sneak of the Week.” Here’s where we dig up a song from the past you’ve never heard or maybe heard, but nearly forgotten.  Check this one out!

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How a ‘60s pop hitmaker reinvented himself as a killer country-rocker in the ‘90s.

The Blue Shadows’ “Coming on Strong” may be one of the most irresistible country-rock tunes ever cut, but two things kept it from attaining legendary status in America. Firstly, it arrived about 20 years too late, in 1993, when grunge was God. What else? Oh yeah, it wasn’t released in the U.S.! If you ever need a reminder of the drastic difference between America and its neighbors to the North, consider the fact that in their Canadian homeland, The Blue Shadows were a pretty big deal for a hot minute, but even in their heyday, their name inspired only blank stares among Americans.

Bill Cowsill was most famous for fronting family band The Cowsills, who scored some big hits in the ‘60s and were the inspiration for The Partridge Family. (Some of their non-hits are ripe for inclusion in this column, but those are tales for another time). After banging around with different bands in the ‘70s and ‘80s, the Rhode Island-born singer/guitarist formed The Blue Shadows in Canada, where he had moved years earlier.

Cowsill co-fronted the band with vocalist/guitarist Jeffrey Hatcher, and the pair locked into some rock-solid Everly Brothers via Lennon/McCartney harmonies on the impossibly catchy, preternaturally potent country-rock tunes they cooked up together.

Their career was initially overseen by k.d. lang’s manager, and their first album, On the Floor of Heaven, came out on Columbia in ‘93, but only in Canada, where it went Gold and earned a Juno nomination. “Coming on Strong” was the record’s opening track and first single, because anybody who had a tune like that would damn well make it their opening track and first single unless they were out of their goddamn minds.

Cowsill was a lover of The Beatles and classic country music. In fact, the band described their sound as “Hank goes to the Cavern Club.” And between the keening harmonies, drummer J.B. Johnson’s crafty, stop-time beat, the constant onslaught of hooks sharp enough to put an eye out, and the tandem twang of Hatcher’s lead guitar and guest fiddler Gary Comeau, the track bears out both influences.

From the moment Comeau starts sawing away at the top of the tune, we’re instantly deep into roof-raising territory. And as soon as Cowsill and Hatcher start singing, their glee is as palpable as it is infectious. By the time we reach the joyous “Whoop!” and “Ow!” that precede the guitar and fiddle solos, anybody whose veins are still pumping blood will be powerless to avoid joining the party.

The Blue Shadows made one more album after On the Floor of Heaven, but never did get stateside distribution, and they broke up soon after. Cowsill, who passed in 2006, had reportedly always hoped more people would get to hear their debut, which remained close to his heart. His wish was granted with the deluxe, double-disc reissue of the record in 2010, including an album’s worth of bonus material.

And in 2025, the band’s legacy was expanded even further when John Cowsill (once the little-brother drummer in the family band) and his wife, Vicki Peterson of Bangles fame, released Long After the Fire, an album of Blue Shadows covers.

-Jim Allen

Photo: The Blue Shadows (fair use)