Howlin Rain Previews New Album ‘Watermelon’ With Mountain Cover Featuring Chris Robinson

Howlin Rain teamed with frontman Chris Robinson for a cover of Mountain’s “Silver Paper.” The track is set for Howlin Rain’s newly announced 1970s deep cut covers album, Watermelon, due out on November 13 via Silver Current Records.

Watermelon arrives as frontman Ethan Miller celebrates 20 years of Howlin Rain. For this new chapter, Miller mined the less-frequented corners of ‘70s rock with songs from Judee Sill, Sugluk, Moby Grape, Fairport Convention, Todd Rundgren, Scott Walker, Tim Hardin and Mountain Bus.

“Rather than curate a record like this with universally favorite hit songs, we wanted [to] draw on more esoteric songs and sometimes obscure artists that were meaningful to us, both of which would tempt further investigation into their strange stories and secret worlds,” Miller said. “In that way the album is a bit of a historical and musical jigsaw puzzle. What ties it all together is our inspired interest in this material, that somehow these underground rabbit holes all linked together for us and showed us a connected musical world unto themselves.”

For Watermelon, Ethan also revamped the Howlin Rain band once again, tapping keyboardist Jonny Niemann, guitarist/vocalist Jason Soda and bassist/vocalist Kyre Wilcox. Drummer Justin Smith is the only holdover from the past couple of Howlin Rain lineups.

Guests on Watermelon include Ty Segall, David Nance and the aforementioned Chris Robinson, who also appears on Todd Rundgren’s “Black Maria.” Miller detailed reconvening with his old friend on the cover of Mountain’s “Silver Paper.”

“I have a crystalized memory of Chris and me standing over a record player in the desert, slurping down drinks and listening to Mountain’s Climbing at high volume at some ungodly hour of the night,” Miller recalled. “Of all the music that one might hear flying by over 20 years of friendship, that memory and that music has etched fondly in my mind. So you could say our ‘Silver Paper’ is a dedication and manifestation of that fine, fleeting moment.”

Listen to Howlin Rain and Chris Robinson on Mountain’s “Silver Paper” below:

Watermelon Tracklist:

1. Silver Paper (with Chris Robinson)
2. Jesus Was A Cross Maker
3. Fall Away
4. I Am Not Willing
5. Possibly Parsons Green (with David Nance)
6. Black Maria (with Chris Robinson)
7. 30th Century Man (with Ty Segall)
8. If I Were A Carpenter
9. Rosali