History

The group was initiated by Jon Langford

Jon Langford

Jon Langford born October 11, 1957, Newport, Monmouthshire is a Welsh-born musician and artist who is presently based in Chicago. He is the younger brother of science-fiction author and critic David Langford...

 (also of the Waco Brothers and The Mekons) as a covers group, with a constantly shifting repertory and cast of backing members. The name was first used for Langford's 1995 album of Johnny Cash

Johnny Cash

John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...

 cover songs. In 1998, Langford enlisted the help of a number of prominent alt-country musicians (including Neko Case

Neko Case

Neko Case is an American singer-songwriter, best known for her solo career and her contributions as a member of the Canadian indie rock group The New Pornographers....

, Alejandro Escovedo

Alejandro Escovedo

Alejandro Escovedo is an American singer-songwriter.-Biography:The son of Mexican immigrants to Texas, Escovedo is from a family that boasts several professional musicians, including brothers Coke Escovedo and Pete Escovedo, and Sheila E...

, and Robbie Fulks

Robbie Fulks

Robbie Fulks is an American alternative country artist originally from Pennsylvania but who is a longtime Chicago, Illinois resident...

) for a full-length tribute album to Bob Wills

Bob Wills

James Robert Wills , better known as Bob Wills, was an American Western Swing musician, songwriter, and bandleader, considered by music authorities as the co-founder of Western Swing and universally known as the pioneering King of Western Swing.Bob Wills' name will forever be associated with...

. Their second LP, The Executioner's Last Songs, was released in 2002 and is a collection of songs about death. Following this record's success, the group recorded two more albums of songs about death as benefits for the Illinois Coalition Against the Death Penalty. These albums featured such guests as Steve Earle

Steve Earle

Stephen Fain "Steve" Earle is an American singer-songwriter known for his rock and Texas Country as well as his political views. He is also a producer, author, a political activist, and an actor, and has written and directed a play....

 and Mark Eitzel

Mark Eitzel

Mark Eitzel is a musician, best known as a songwriter and lead singer of the San Francisco band American Music Club.-History:Eitzel spent his formative years in a military family living in Okinawa, Taiwan, Ohio and the United Kingdom. He moved to America in 1979.He started making music while he was...

. The group rarely performs live, though it occasionally does special performances in the Chicago area. In 2007 the group appeared as backing band on Chumbawamba

Chumbawamba

Chumbawamba is a British musical group who have, over a career spanning nearly three decades, played punk rock, pop-influenced music, world music, and folk music...

 member Danbert Nobacon

Danbert Nobacon

Danbert Nobacon was a vocalist and occasional keyboard player in the Leeds based anarchist band Chumbawamba...

's solo album The Library Book of the World, as well as playing live with Nobacon.

The PVC appeared at the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago, Illinois on October 10, 2009. The band was originally scheduled to back Australian Aboriginal singer Roger Knox

Roger Knox

Roger Knox is an Australian country singer known as the Black Elvis and the Koori King of Country. He is an Gamilaroi man , was born in Moree and grew up in the Toomelah Aboriginal Mission near Boggabilla near the border between New South Wales and Queensland.In 1980s Knox was in a plane crash that...

, but Knox's US visa was denied. Instead, the band played a number of Knox's songs accompanied by singer Sally Timms. A second set had the band supporting a performance of Rosie Flores.

Discography

• Misery Loves Company:Songs of Johnny Cash (Scout Records
  Scout Records
  Scout Records was the relatively short-lived record label founded and owned in the late 1960s by German concert promoters Horst Lippmann and Fritz Rau, before in 1979 they founded their main label L+R Records....
  
  , 1995; re-released on Bloodshot Records
  Bloodshot Records
  Bloodshot Records is an independent record label based in Chicago, Illinois which specializes in roots-inflected indie rock, punk blues, and a Chicago brand of outlaw country...
  
  , 1998)
• Salute the Majesty of Bob Wills (Bloodshot, 1998)
• The Executioner's Last Songs (Bloodshot, 2002)
• The Executioner's Last Songs, Vols. 2 & 3 (Bloodshot, 2003)
• Barn Dance Favorites (Bloodshot, 2004)
• The Library Book of the World (As backing group to Danbert Nobacon
  Danbert Nobacon
  Danbert Nobacon was a vocalist and occasional keyboard player in the Leeds based anarchist band Chumbawamba...
  
  ) (Bloodshot, 2007)

External links

• [ Pine Valley Cosmonauts] at Allmusic.com
• Pine Valley Cosmonauts at Bloodshot Records