There are those whose first exposure to Cowboy came from its pair of songs included on the 1974 Gregg Allman Tour double-album. Led by Scott Boyer and Tommy Talton, the core writing duo that had retained the name of the group following its dissolution in 1972, the revamped Cowboy opened for Allman on his solo run as well as acted as his backing band and featured an electrified style saturated in funky soul, gospel, and blues that typified the quintessential sound of the mid-‘70s, with grooving electric piano and a horn section overflowing from the Hi-Fi. 5’ll Getcha Ten is not that Cowboy.

Built on acoustic guitars, gentle harmonies, and lyrics of personal reflection, the original sextet out of north Florida had far more pronounced country leanings, and after being shepherded by Allman’s brother Duane to the attention of Capricorn Records, released in 1970 its debut album, Reach for the Sky. This 1971 follow-up, now reissued, continued in that same vein, with Boyer’s maturing songwriting peaking on the album’s most famous track, “Please Be With Me.” Covered by Eric Clapton three years later on his classic 461 Ocean Boulevard, this version is actually one of two that the band recorded with Duane Allman on dobro; the other appearing on Allman’s posthumous anthology. On 5’ll it’s a slower, and more plaintive offering, surely a high-water mark among these dozen songs, but hardly reduces the album to “Please Be With Me” and eleven others. Quite the opposite.

Relaxed and patient, and recorded beautifully at Capricorn’s studios and the famed Muscle Shoals, it’s a collection awash in tasteful and notable fretwork (as well as the precocious talent of Chuck Leavell, then 19-years-old, guesting on piano), with the good-time, rollick and roll of “Right On Friend” countered by the wistful “All My Friends” as but one example of Boyer and Talton’s ability to write and play to a spectrum of emotions. Not long after the record’s release, this incarnation of Cowboy would subsequently and regretfully ride off into the proverbial sunset. Despite that bittersweet feeling when heard anew, 5’ll Getcha Ten is still a quietly affecting and humble jewel of an album.