Hit The Hay Vol. 6
“Left Sideways” · from Rodeo City
Band · since 1994
The Foxymorons
The Foxymorons are a long-distance indie-pop duo from Dallas, Texas: David Dewese and Jerry James, since 1994.
Quick facts
- Formed
- 1994, Dallas, Texas; co-founded by David Dewese and Jerry James
- Members
- David Dewese · Jerry James
- First show
- SXSW, the basement of the Empanada Parlour on Sixth Street in Austin,
- Labels
- Foxyphoton Records · Heatstroke Records · The American Pop Project
- Releases
- 13 (1998–2022): five studio albums, a free covers album, an EP and six singles
- Songwriting
- Every original song credited to David Dewese and Jerry James, split 50/50
- Official site
- foxymorons.com
The story
David Dewese and Jerry James met at church camp as teenagers and went to Poteet High School in Mesquite, Texas. Before they had a song, they were already telling people they were in a band called The Foxymorons. In 1994 they made the joke real: they found a drum kit in a Sunday-school room at Shiloh Terrace Baptist Church, hauled in guitars, amps and a tape recorder, and started making noisy tapes.
At colleges about three hours apart they mailed each other mix tapes, then their own songs. When David moved to Nashville in 1997, the band carried on by cassette. In 1999 the Dallas Observer called the postman “practically the third member” of the group, carrying their songs back and forth between four-track recorders.
Jerry pressed a four-song 7-inch, Silver Leaves, on the band’s own Foxyphoton Records in 1998. It reached a Bay Area label, The American Pop Project, whose owner mailed Jerry a note: “I like your seven-inch.” The label released Calcutta, recorded in Nashville with Mike Poole, in September 1999, before the band had played a single show. The first show came in March 2000, at SXSW, and Rodeo City followed in January 2001.
Hesitation Eyes was recorded in David’s spare bedroom in Nashville and came out on Heatstroke Records in 2005; Pitchfork gave it 7.3, and in 2006 ABC’s Men in Trees used “This Heart Of Mine”. Bible Stories (2010) was made in David’s Nashville basement. Fake Yoga (2015), begun at Jerry’s house in Fort Worth, drew an A− from Robert Christgau, and six singles followed in 2020–22.
Members
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David Dewese
Co-founder, since 1994. Songwriter, singer, guitar; the band’s recording engineer from Hesitation Eyes on.
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Jerry James
Co-founder, since 1994. Songwriter, singer; started Foxyphoton Records.
The two alternate lead vocals. Collaborators such as Mike Poole, Matt Pence and Will Johnson are credited on the release pages.
The Foxymorons, year by year
The band’s thread from Through the decades, from 1998 on: every release and the dated moments between them. Each fact’s source is listed there.
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First show: a SXSW showcase in Austin, six months after Calcutta came out.
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The spare-bedroom studio: David buys recording gear, and Jerry flies in for a week of “one concert played and eight studio songs recorded”.
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The Hesitation Eyes masters come back. “We bought the gear, learned to use it, engineered it, and performed it.” (David)
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SXSW again, at Spiro’s.
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“This Heart Of Mine” airs on ABC’s Men in Trees.
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American Viceroy: between records, the two start a clothing line. “This Too Shall Pass” appears in their list of new songs.
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Bible Stories launches at a CD-release house show in Nashville, then at the Double Wide in Dallas.
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Fake Yoga begins: recording starts at Jerry’s house in Fort Worth, on one of David’s trips back to Texas.
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David and Jerry guest-edit Magnet for two weeks: “From The Desk Of The Foxymorons”.
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Jerry on working long-distance: “[David] will track his songs or do overdubs on my songs.”
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Press
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“On their fifth album in 21 years, two Dallas pop-punk hobbyists and/or perfectionists attain the pop-punk grail: 10 tough, catchy, ebullient, stealth-strange songs in 32 minutes.”
Vice (Expert Witness) · Robert Christgau ·
On Fake Yoga
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“[S]end these guys back in the DeLorean a couple of decades and the driving ‘Sentient Creatures’ would have easily rivaled ‘She Don’t Use Jelly’ and ‘Cut Your Hair’ as the alt-rock hit of 1994.”
Spectrum Culture · Jeremy Winograd ·
On Fake Yoga
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“Hesitation Eyes is a sturdy album… an indication that even with a non-traditional working relationship, the duo still has room to grow.”
Pitchfork · Joe Tangari · · 7.3/10
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“With such effortlessly graceful songwriting chops on their side, there’s really no need.”
Paste · Brian Howe ·
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“It isn’t hip or edgy or cool; it’s just genuine and a little bit heartbroken, which is far better anyway.”
Dallas Observer · Sarah Hepola ·
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“The Foxymorons are not your regular kind of band… But Calcutta is not your average record, either.”
The Big Takeover · Stephen Slaybaugh ·
On Calcutta
Appearances
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A Tribute To Elliott Smith
“Ballad Of Big Nothing” · an Elliott Smith cover
On television
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Men in Trees
“This Heart Of Mine”, from Hesitation Eyes · Season 1, episode 9, “The Menaissance”
Watch the clip: “This Heart Of Mine” in Men in Trees on YouTube
Quick answers
Who are The Foxymorons?
A long-distance indie-pop duo from Dallas, Texas: David Dewese and Jerry James, who co-founded the band in 1994.
Who writes The Foxymorons’ songs?
Every original Foxymorons song is credited to David Dewese and Jerry James, split 50/50; the covers (the Regurgitation album and their Elliott Smith tribute track) belong to their original writers.
How many albums have The Foxymorons made?
Five studio albums (Calcutta, Rodeo City, Hesitation Eyes, Bible Stories and Fake Yoga) and a free covers album, Regurgitation (2001), plus the Silver Leaves EP (1998) and six singles in 2020–22.
Are The Foxymorons the same band as Foxy Morons?
No. Foxy Morons is a band from Tasmania, and a Melbourne jazz group also uses the name The Foxymorons; this is the Texas duo of David Dewese and Jerry James, at foxymorons.com.
Watch and listen
- “Uma Thurman”, music video (YouTube)
- “That’s What You Told Me”, short film (YouTube)
- “Spinning On A Needle”, video (YouTube)
- foxymorons.com
- Bandcamp: The Foxymorons
- Spotify: The Foxymorons
- Apple Music: The Foxymorons
- YouTube: The Foxymorons
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