The men of The Athens Cowboy Choir, a group founded by Nick Gould and including Brian Poole, Matt Nelson, Joe Rowe, JoJo Glidewell and many more notables, perform the tunes of Norman Luboff, the creator of the mid-century Norman Luboff Choir and a songwriter known for his mellow, echoing vocal arrangements. Luboff influenced the layered harmonies of the Beach Boys, whose walls of weaving vocals and sparse instrumentation are as close a comparison as can be offered, if paired with the genteel air of a bygone cowboy. The ACC (as the group calls itself) plays more casual versions of Luboff’s songs, while staying true to his celebration of nearly unaccompanied voices. Improvisation is minimal in the ACC’s vocal collaboration, where each note sounds as loudly as the rest.
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