by John Myers, Line Producer, World Cafe on XPN

At the CMJ Music Marathon in the fall of 1995 I went to a Capitol Records showcase one night where the headliner of the three-act bill was Vic Chestnut. I was vaguely familiar with Vic Chestnut’s music, but didn’t know the music of the other acts on the bill, The Kostars and Sparklehorse.

The showcase was on the second floor of Soho’s Thread Waxing Space, a funky art gallery with high ceilings and dark lighting. I arrived just in time to catch the second act, Sparklehorse. I had never heard of them before, but discovering new music was the point of a CMJ showcase.

From the first note of Sparklehorse’s set I was hooked. The band’s songs entered my ears and tightly wrapped themselves around my brain. A muted trumpet and odd microphones added aural textures to their performance that I’d never heard before. Each song was better than the next and the set peaked when Sparklehorse invited a friend up to duet on a song called “All Her Favorite Fruit.” The guest vocalist wore a cowboy hat with the brim pulled down over his eyes. The song was amazing.

After their set I approached the guest vocalist and asked him where I could find the song he sang on. “Oh, it’s on an album called Key Lime Pie by my old band,” he replied.

Holy crap. This was David Lowrey from Camper Van Beethoven… and Cracker.

David and I talked about music, motorcycles and Sparklehorse. He told me about how he had just worked on Sparklehorse’s Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot at his Sound of Music studio in Richmond, Virginia (He’s credited at “David Charles” in the liner notes).

It was an amazing night of musical discovery. The next day I went out and bought Sparklehorse’s “Viva…” and Camper’s “Key Lime Pie.” To this day both albums remain on my list of desert island discs.

Listen to “All Her Favorite Fruit” by Camper Van Beethoven: all-her-favorite-fruit.mp3