it's that time of year of just closing out on a couple of singles that we just ran out of time to feature on release but that are too good to let go past unrecognized. One of those is "Gumball Machine" by the Cotton Pickin' Kids. A Bluegrass playing family of six siblings with another five ready to step up at some point, has all the hallmarks of being something we expected to find to be intensely annoying - but how wrong we were!
In truth they sucked us in from the very intro of "Gumball Machine" with a heady mix, rich with mandolins, dobros, guitars, banjos and double bass - they can play the lot. If The Osmonds had Donny, and The Jacksons had Michael, the Cotton PIckin' Kids have Therese and as talented as the rest of her siblings are ( and they are very talented) , it is Therese one imagines, the writer of "Gumball Machine", who is going to drag this band into the limelight.
From the moment she belatedly joins the rest of the band on the video with a sheepish grin and starts "ooh"ing she steals the show on this tale of relationship woe - where the smallest token expression of love would mean so much
"Could've bought me a ring from a gumball machine
Even 25 cents from you would mean the world to me
Could've bought a house in the middle of nowhere
Had little Me's running everywhere
But you had to mess it all up"
The chorus spells out just how disappointing this let down can be, taking it to somewhat extreme lengths but Therese backed by her sisters, sings it in such a harmonious way that we'll let that pass!
"What would you do If I said "Yes" to a man that wasn't you?
What would you do if I moved on with my life and you weren't even in it?
I'll be walking down the aisle, with my Father to my right
You won't be the one waiting to say I do"
The consequences of not paying that tiny bit of attention are laid out in the final verse
"Well He'll buy me a ring from a Gumball Machine
Just to be cute then hold up that big diamond ring
We'll live happily ever after
Have a world to live, just the both of us
Oh What do you think?"
With a final gem of a chorus with Therese really letting her vocals go wild, there is no doubt that Therese and her siblings are going to attract a lot of attention if they keep pumping out singles like this.