John Cowan and Andrea Zonn: The Herculeons - The HercuLeons (2025)

The names you likely know. John Cowan first made his name as a singer and as a bassist with the New Grass Revival, despite not having been schooled in a bluegrass background. This didn’t stop him from helping bring huge crossover success to the band when he joined for their second release – a success which continued until they disbanded some 14 years later. A solo release in 1990 took his big voice and applied it – somewhat surprisingly – in a soul direction, entirely reinventing himself again. Likewise, his solo release of 2000, expectations be damned. His intense reluctance to be pigeon-holed has also hampered his career somewhat. Ten solo releases, not including the failed supergroup known as The Sky Kings (through no fault of their own), had this popular singer retreat into playing bass and singing with The Doobie Brothers for a number of years.

Andrea Zonn has earned her reputation a little more tactfully. Raised in a musical family, she left Illinois and headed to Nashville at a young age and was playing with Vince Gill, eventually collaborating with Alison Krauss, Lyle Lovett and Trish Yearwood – each of whom helped twist her classical training on violin into something quite distinctive in the Nashville setting. Her voice followed suit. A pair of solo releases in ’03 and ’15 didn’t burn any houses down but her continuing musical relationships with Gill, James Taylor, Martina McBride, Carole King and others have made her a go-to session player and vocalist of a reliable nature.

Producer Wendy Waldman also comes from a storied career of her own quality recordings as a singer-songwriter and is a respected songwriter and producer. Running with the likes of Karla Bonoff, Andrew Gold, Linda Ronstadt and her own success – plus a later act with Bryndle – offers added context behind the firepower of this release (Waldman also contributes on guitar, dulcimer, keyboards and harmonies throughout).

Together, the eclectic twosome behind The HercuLeons have cherry-picked twelve (mostly cover) tunes, wisely referred to by someone as “a weathered ramble.”

Bluegrass Hall of Fame and Doobie Brothers member, John Cowan, along with legendary fiddler and vocalist Andrea Zonn, introduce their new musical adventure together – The HercuLeons. The six-piece band, led by Cowan and Zonn, features exquisite vocals and world-class musicianship, blending Appalachian, soul, rock, and jazz to create a unique blend of Pop Americana.

The HercuLeons emerged as a creative project in the Spring of 2020. Finding themselves in a sudden touring hiatus, longtime friends and collaborators John Cowan and Andrea Zonn, together with legendary producer Wendy Waldman, found a way to nurture their musical creativity remotely, sending audio files back and forth between Los Angeles and Nashville. What began as a musical conversation has grown roots, nurturing a mutual love of timeless songs, finessed studio production and finally now, high energy performances. Their debut album will be released on MARCH 21, 2025.