Crackers with rhythm: Interview with '90s hit band during two-night bender in Mojave Desert

Sand from the dirt lot at Pappy and Harriet's danced across the top of my boots as the desert winds picked up in the Mojave.

A coyote might have sounded in the distance, the drown of the wind and band soundcheck muting the possible howl.

The dehydrated setting was something that the band Cracker was all too familiar with. David Lowery, vocalist and co-founder of the platinum '90s band, led me past a closed wooden gate to the Green Room away from starstruck fans.

Here, he would tell me about his intimate relationship with the California desert and its role in sculpting top-charting songs.

An hour and a half jet up the I-10 and Lowery would escape his home life in Redlands, replacing his high school days with high times in the Hollywood ghost town. Some things have remained the same in the few decades he's been visiting Pioneertown, he assured me, but more things have changed.

"There's always been an attraction for musicians to come to this desert for inspiration," he said, "but there are far more musicians up here now than there used to be. It feels like a Hollywood music industry outpost now, which never used to be the case. At least it keeps the place interesting."

While he was starting to debate my position that the now-mainstream, invasive influencer Coachella Music Festival was the catalyst for the dramatic change in the low desert, a gang of motorcycles revved their horses on the adjacent dirt road, muffling Lowery's speech.

"Well, the motorcycles haven't changed, have they?" he laughed at his reference to the biker bar's history as a stomping ground for leather-studded ghost riders.

"We recorded our platinum record just down the road in that barn right there," he pointed over the fence to the dirt walkway and Western-style buildings of Pioneertown. "I'm not sure what really spiked the popularity of this place, but it started in the mid-90s before Coachella really got off the ground.

It's very Instagram-able. When social media kicked in, it really started to become a place that people wanted to know."

I looked down the row of two-ply Western buildings, beyond the Hay Feed but just before the Red Dog Saloon. How the acoustics could produce any sound other than subpar in a wood-rotted building like that was beyond me. But somehow, the recording barn produced Cracker's best-selling gold record "Kerosene Hat," among others.

Hardcore fans known as Crumbs were already lined up outside the venue, eager to secure their front row spot for the alternative rock-turned-country-sometimes-soul band. The Crumbs had an unusual affiliation with their favorite band.

Unlike other mainstream fans, many of the Crumbs actually knew the band or had engaged with them in the past.

The Crumbs even communicate directly with Lowery and band via the Cracker Telegram group. Leaked live audio, setlists from last night's performance, and dog photos are shared across the platform by 133 middle-aged fans. Lowery himself even jumps on from time to time to give away free tickets and show information.

According to Lowery, the band name is frequently misunderstood. Their social media posts are constantly shadow-banned under the assumption that Cracker is some sort of racial slur, so the band started the Telegram group to sidestep the AI headache.

Michael Smilonich attended both nights of Cracker at Pappy and Harriet's.

He follows the band for their sense of lyrical humor, he told me from the front row before the band went on. "See that lady in the center?" he asked, "she's a true Crumb. She's at every show in the same place, front row center."

Small, intimate venues and annual campouts with the band have bridged the bond between the musicians and their devout fans.

Lowery's other band, Camper Van Beethoven, has hosted a multi-day campout in Pioneertown since 2005. The bender that lasted up to four days in its heyday stopped in 2019 to the disappointment of the Crumbs.

This year, a two-night ride at Pappy and Harriet's would have to satisfy the Southern California fans.

"We wanted to do something smaller this year because next year is a really big anniversary for Camper Van Beethoven," Lowery said. "It's the 40-year anniversary of our first album."

Lowery hopes to host the big anniversary event at Pappy and Harriet's next year and is open to celebrating festival style.

Country-fied Cracker, debunking myths, and... Jerry Garcia?

Pioneertown had some influence on the twangier sounds of Cracker, but that twang has always been in the Cracker discography, Lowery said, going back to the first album with tracks like "This Is Cracker Soul" and the country guitar of "I See The Light."

The twang "really sort of sets in" in the second best-selling album, as heard in the slowed-down title track or the train beat of "Take Me To The Infirmary."

"By the time we get to the 2014 'Berkeley to Bakersfield album'," Lowery turned to admire the setting sun, "we have an entire disc that's a country disc. We've been headed that way and we ended up going really country by the end."

On the bill for that night were more country-style songs at Pappy's; the setlist was crafted around the guest fiddle player, Ann Harris, who's a regular performer with Cracker on Midwest stints of their tours.

It wasn't always easy crafting a setlist or getting airtime for their songs.

A long-standing rumor that follows the band like a groupie involves a drug reference and the boycotting of the band on commercial radio. Cracker's hit song "Low" was subject to scrutiny because of the lyrics "like being stoned." Lowery had to write a letter to radio stations to debunk drug allusions, or so I thought.

People often misunderstand the story, Lowery said.

"The lyric is 'being stoned,' but our record company called one day, trying to convince me that the lyric was 'being stone,' like some sort of biblical or classical Greek reference," he said. "I found it hysterical that the label was hoping the band would replace ganja with Gomorrah."

Lowery went along with the PG-version white lie about the lyrics. Could he have stuck it to the man like Johnny Cash with Sunday Morning Coming Down? Definitely. But that probably wouldn't have registered more airtime for his band.

The label producer drafted the letter and Lowery had to sign it like a kid in detention.

Allegations debunked, the widespread success of the first two albums allowed Cracker to explode into the hit '90s band that they were. Doors opened and contracts got signed. The band even opened for the Grateful Dead for three nights in a row in Oregon, 1994.

"It was one of my favorite memories from my career as a musician," Lowery started. "We met Jerry Garcia the first night right before we were about to go on stage. He was coming out of the porta potty, and we all shook his hand.

I was so distracted by the fact that there weren't any sinks in the porta potty and accidentally fixated on that the entire time instead of focusing on my living hero right in front of me. I'm not even that big of a germaphobe but it was enough to drown out what he was saying to the other guys in the band."

New music on the horizon

Fans can expect a retrospective album this November.

It strays away from the norm, only offering alternate takes of well-known Cracker songs. "Alternative History," the play on words album, will have recordings never released to the public, rare demos, and updated B-side tracks.

There will be an alternate recording of "King of Bakersfield" and a re-recording of "Low;" a reinterpreted version of "Merry Christmas Emily," and other live tracks.

Lowery also has a solo album coming out in May called "Father, Sons, and Brothers," a five-year project started right before the pandemic.

Lowery writes his own songs and has long been an advocate for fair remuneration for songwriters. He's had two class actions against streaming services in the past, which resulted in a revision of the Copyright Act.

"When we organized the class act in 2015, streaming services weren't paying anything to songwriters," he said. "That issue got settled and as a result, streaming services came up with a compromise proposal with songwriters which became the Music Modernization Act."

Buying artist's music is the best way to support bands, Lowery insisted. Artists get a percentage of subscription revenues, so if people are listening to a streaming platform that's free, artists get very few or no royalties.

He recommends listening on Tidal and Apple over Spotify. YouTube is the worst, he says, because most people listen for free, and the ad revenue is very low. It's about 1/20 of what Apple pays.

Cracker's second night at Pappy's was nearly sold out. Drunk bachelorettes in faux mullets danced in the empty standing room and hardcore Crumbs sang along with every word on the 16-song setlist.

"All I want is a cool drink of water," sang Lowery during St. Cajetan, reminding concertgoers of the sweltering triple-digit day.

One thing is certain, there is definitely a place for Cracker in Pioneertown. The band's history with the Mojave, the tanginess of the music, the excited audience, and the packed show - it's possible that there's no venue better fitting for the alternative, country, soul, blues band.

McKenna Mobley is a Daily Press reporter and can be reached at [email protected].

This article originally appeared on Victorville Daily Press: Roundtable with '90s hit band Cracker at Pioneertown desert venue