Given the relative dearth of detail and the number of hats leader Alex McMurray wears around the New Orleans music scene it’s pushing the envelope a bit to come up with something entirely new here, but we need something to maintain consistency with the rest of the site, so here we go.
Dating back to 1995, when McMurray found a gig that needed a band, the original Royal Fingerbowl trio (McMurray on guitar and vocals with drummer Kevin O'Day and bassist Andy Wolf on bass) managed a significant record deal despite the fact that they’d scarcely played outside Orleans Parish. The label was the New York based TVT REcords (which broke Nine Inch Nails, so you’d be hopeful, wouldn’t you)
Happy Birthday, Sabo! came out in August 1997, followed three years later by Greyhound Afternoons, by which time Carlo Nuccio had ended up behind the drum kit and Matt Perrine was about to take over on bass.
Both albums attracted favourable reviews but failed to move off the shelves, the record contract evaporated and the band broke up in 2001.
They have, however, regrouped for the odd low-key gig, often with Bob Andrews sitting in on keyboards, and there’s a live album recorded at One Eyed Jacks sitting in someone’s vaults.