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Few of singer-songwriter Susan Cowsill's New Orleans friends knew of her prior life with popular 1960s singing siblings the Cowsills.

"When I moved here, people mostly knew me as a Continental Drifter or Peter Holsapple's wife or whatever," Cowsill said recently. "The Cowsills thing would come up much later in the conversation: 'You're what? You're who?'

"It just didn't matter one way or the other, which is something I really liked about being here. I had the opportunity to adapt an identity of my own."

On Saturday, Oct. 10, locals will finally catch a glimpse of her alter ego as she and the current incarnation of the Cowsills stages its first-ever New Orleans performance at Carrollton Station.

"Now it's come full circle," she said. "We've been playing more since Hurricane Katrina, so people know who we are -- my friends here have done their research. It will be a hoot."

In the 1950s, Susan's older brothers Bill and Bob Cowsill formed a duo while still in grade school. By the mid-1960s, the band included brothers Barry and John. Later, their mother Barbara, brother Paul and precocious baby sister Susan joined in.

For 8-year-old Susan, membership in her brothers' band represented a promotion from her previous role as backyard prop.

"I was a human football, or I played Nell when they had cowboy scenes," she recalled. "They'd stick me in one of my mom's dresses and I'd sit on a stool and they'd fight over me: 'Alright, we need you now, you can play.' "

The Cowsills' pitch-perfect harmonies, inherent novelty and well-timed appearance on the "Today" show led to a record deal. Prototypical flower power anthem "The Rain, the Park and Other Things" hit No. 2 on the national charts in Dec. 1967. "Indian Lake" reached No. 10 the following year.

The Cowsills moved from Newport, R.I., to Los Angeles. They recorded the title track of counterculture rock musical "Hair" in 1969; it hit No. 2. They landed a lucrative contract as spokesmen for the American Dairy Association, played 200-plus dates a year and appeared on "The Ed Sullivan Show" and "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson."

They were considered for their own TV show; producers ultimately created and cast a fictional version of the Cowsills dubbed the Partridge Family. By 1972, the Cowsills had gone their separate ways.

Paul worked in construction and designed outdoor sets for movies. Bill moved to Canada and continued to perform. Bob helped develop and sell software for hospital emergency rooms. For the past decade, John has played keyboards and drums for the Beach Boys.

Susan, a teenager when the Cowsills dissolved, lived on her own in L.A. and sang on albums by Nancy Griffith, John Hiatt and others. She and Bangles guitarist Vicki Peterson joined a group of New Orleans expatriates called the Continental Drifters.

Around 1992, Cowsill and her fellow Drifters moved to New Orleans. She married Drifters frontman Peter Holsapple. The band released three albums of literate roots rock. By 2001, personal and professional difficulties had taken a toll; Cowsill's marriage, and the band, dissolved.

She eventually married the Drifters' drummer, Russ Broussard. In 2004, she released her solo debut, "Just Believe It." Each month, her band recreates a different classic album for the "Covered in Vinyl" series at Carrollton Station. She and Broussard's Algiers Point home is an epicenter of local music. It recently served as a studio for the recording of a Threadhead Records Christmas album with Paul Sanchez, John Boutte and others.

Barry Cowsill also landed in New Orleans, where he continued to write and perform intermittently. He disappeared in Katrina's immediate aftermath; months later, his body was discovered alongside the Mississippi River at the Chartres Street wharf. Bill Cowsill died in Canada around the time of Barry's memorial service in February 2006.

Since then, the surviving Cowsills have resolved to perform more frequently. "A family band generally doesn't ever break up -- they take a break," Susan said. "The Cowsills could not get arrested in the '90s. Now it's a whole different ballgame."

In 2001, Universal Music released a 12-song compilation, "The Best of the Cowsills," as part of its 20th Century Masters Millennium Collection. The band's current roster includes Susan, her brothers Bob and Paul, her nephews Brendon and Ryan, Broussard on drums and former Cowboy Mouth bassist Mary Lasseigne.

They average 20 shows a year, ranging from big festival appearances to intimate club shows. They recently logged a two-week residency at a theater in Branson, Mo. Old friends Paul Revere & the Raiders and the Righteous Brothers' Bill Medley, with whom the Cowsills often crossed paths back in the day, were in nearby theaters.

Branson "is like Bourbon Street without liquor, and a much older crowd," Cowsill said. "It's grandmas gone wild. But it was really fun."

When the Cowsills play Carrollton Station, "you'll see something you've never seen before, which is me not having the center stage and running my mouth. My brother Paul will be doing it for me."

Their set includes Cowsills classics, compositions by Barry and Bill, such covers as "Monday Monday" and "Helplessly Hoping," and Susan's "Just Believe It."

"Bob calls me the Neil Young of his band," she said. "I have this other career, but I'm still in Crosby, Stills, Nash & Cowsills or whatever. They're very supportive of what I do. I think they're slightly proud of me sometimes, but they don't say that much because they're my brothers."

When together, the Cowsills slip into their old sibling roles. Susan is still the baby sister.

"I do have a whole life -- Russ and I, kids, New Orleans, our own careers. But when I do the Cowsills thing, I get to be little me again, who gets pushed around, but with love. I don't like it, but it's quite dear. It's comfortable. I make a joke of it onstage.

"I'm a little mouthier than I used to be, just so they remember I am 50 years old. But my brothers are the sweetest guys ever. Any fussing I do is just joking. I wouldn't trade it for anything."

THE COWSILLS

What: The first-ever local performance by the 1960s pop group, featuring local singer-songwriter Susan Cowsill.

With: Opening act Jimmy Robinson.

When: Saturday, Oct. 10, 9 p.m.

Where: Carrollton Station, 8140 Willow St., 504.895.9190.