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Bluegrass Guitar
Level 3
AnchorAbout Peter Rowan
Peter Rowan was one of the major cult bluegrass artists of the '80s, winning a devoted, international fan base through his independent records and constant touring. A skilled singer/songwriter, Rowan also yodeled, and played numerous stringed instruments and the saxophone. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts; his parents and many of his relatives were musicians, and it seemed only natural that Rowan too would become one. When he was a teenager, he frequently hung out at the Hillbilly Ranch, where he heard such bluegrass and old-time bands as the Lilly Brothers. He also enjoyed listening to the blues.
Rowan formed the Tex-Mex band the Cupids while he was in high school. The group became a popular New England attraction and independently released a single. After college, he decided to become a professional musician, and in 1963 joined the Cambridge-based Mother Bay State Entertainers as a mandolin player and singer, appearing on their LP The String Band Project. In 1964, after performing with Jim Rooney and Bill Keith, Rowan became a rhythm guitarist and lead singer with Bill Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys. He remained with them through 1967, leaving to join mandolinist David Grisman in the folk-rock band Earth Opera. The group recorded a couple of albums and toured (frequently opening for the Doors) until the early '70s. One of their albums, The Great Eagle Tragedy (1969) produced a minor hit single, "Home to You."
In 1973, Rowan joined Old & in the Way. Old & in the Way was a one-shot bluegrass band whose legacy lasted far longer than the band. Led by Grateful Dead member Jerry Garcia (banjo, vocals), the band also featured David Grisman (mandolin, vocals), Vassar Clements (fiddle), Peter Rowan (guitar, vocals), and John Kahn (bass). Garcia formed the band in 1973 as a way to revisit his bluegrass roots and demonstrate his affection for the music. Taking their name from an old bluegrass standard, Old & in the Way played a handful of gigs, most of them at the Boarding House in San Francisco in October. An album, also called Old & in the Way, was culled from these shows and released later in 1975 on the Grateful Dead's own record label, Round. The record combined standards and Rowan originals, which later became standards. One of them is Rowan's anthem-like tune Panama Red. I wrote it in 1969 in Cambridge, Rowan recalls. It's now at the front of my set. It may date me but it's a good, fun song, and a good finger-picking song.
Their 1973 album remains the biggest selling bluegrass record of all time. It bridged the gap between classic hillbilly and bluegrass and new age. It was the only album the lineup recorded until the additional tapes from this same 1973 session were released in 1996 and 1997 on Grisman's own Acoustic Disc label.
Most recently (1996) Rowan teamed with dobro deity Jerry Douglas on Yonder (Sugar Hill). And now, hot on the heals of that Douglas/Rowan collaboration, Rowan has come full-circle on his latest solo effort, Bluegrass Boy (Sugar Hill), a delightful -- and now, sadly, a timely -- homage to his mentor, Bill Monroe.
With the help of fellow Blue Grass Boy alums Del McCoury (harmony vocal) and fiddler Richard Greene (the latter also played with Rowan in Seatrain and Muleskinner), Rowan, plucking mandolin and wielding his clear, mighty, yodel-capable tenor, practically embodies Monroe on Bluegrass Boy. Additional support comes from such leading lights of contemporary bluegrass as Laurie Lewis (harmony vocals), Charles Sawtelle (guitar), Roy Huskey, Jr. (upright bass), Mike Munford (banjo) and Buell Neidinger (upright bass). The title track, in particular, is a tender tribute to the farmer who became the Father of Bluegrass.
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