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Wednesday, September 4, 2019 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Legendary bluegrass musician returns to Sisters Folk Festival
By Ceili Cornelius
Correspondent
Legendary bluegrass
singer-songwriter, Peter
Rowan is one of this year9s
headliners at the 2019 Sisters
Folk Festival.
Rowan has a career span-
ning over five decades, after
falling in love with music at
a young age.
He has worked with a
number of well-known artists
and musicians over the years.
His most influential early
music memory comes from
his uncle when he was just
six years old. When his fam-
ily would visit his World War
II veteran uncle, they would
pass the time in Hawaii play-
ing music. He learned to play
the ukulele with his uncle as
his first musical instrument
at six years old.
Later, his best friend that
lived down the street from
him in Massachusetts where
he grew up started playing
and singing duets with him
around their neighborhood.
Around the time they were
young boys, the image of
Elvis was beginning to come
on the mainstream media,
young Rowan seeing flashes
of performances and maga-
zine covers as he walked the
streets of his hometown near
Boston. One day, Rowan
and his friend saw an image
of Elvis with a Martin D18
guitar over his shoulder,
and Rowan thought that he
wanted to have the same
guitar.
<After that is when I
started pursuing guitar more
and played in a rock 8n9 roll
band called Cupids, with a
six-string electric, while I
was still in high school,= he
said.
During his youth he
saw Joan Baez perform at
Harvard Square and found
the folk scene of the time.
<I was hanging out with
these folk and country bands
when I was only 17 years
old, and knew that it is what
I wanted to do,= he said.
After his stint in acadamia
with three years of college,
Rowan fell in love with the
music of bluegrass legend
Bill Monroe. A few months
later, with the help of banjo-
player Bill Keith, he was
invited to Nashville to audi-
tion for Monroe. In 1963, he
was hired as rhythm guitar-
ist, lead vocalist and song-
writer for Monroe9s band,
The Bluegrass Boys.
<He (Monroe) was such a
leader and individual, and as
a musician he paid attention
to every detail and told you
exactly how he wanted the
music to be and its specific
form,= said Rowan.
One of Rowan9s favorite
parts of his experience was
learning about his own cre-
ative powers at a young age
while also learning the sci-
ence behind music.
<I had to find my own
ground and creative mind in
working with Bill Monroe;
some of it was kind of a test
all the time so I had to find
myself and find my own
voice as well,= said Rowan.
Monroe is known for
his classic bluegrass sound
and autobiographical songs.
Rowan and Monroe wrote a
song together entitled, <The
I had to find my own
ground and creative
mind in working with Bill
Monroe; some of it was
kind of a test all the time
so I had to find myself and
find my own voice as well.
— Peter Rowan
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<That song was about the
idea of love beyond death
and how bluegrass, contrary
to popular belief can tell the
story of tragic love,= said
Rowan.
<One thing I started to
like about the Monroe style
was that there was a lot more
blues in it than other styles of
bluegrass,= Rowan reflected.
<It was darker. It had more of
an edge to it. And yet it still
had the ballad tradition in it,
and I loved that.=
After his experiences
working with Bill Monroe
and The Bluegrass Boys into
his 20s, Rowan had a wan-
derlust to travel across the
country. During his travels,
he was exposed to various
styles of music and other
musicians.
His travels landed him in
various parts of the coun-
try, including in the South,
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with a number of projects.
As stated by his website:
<The late 960s and early
970s saw Rowan involved
in a number of rock, folk
and bluegrass projects,
including Earth Opera, Sea
Train, Muleskinner, and the
Rowans, where he played
alongside his brothers Chris
and Lorin Rowan. After the
Rowan brothers disbanded,
Peter, David Grisman, Jerry
Garcia, Vassar Clements and
John Kahn formed a blue-
grass band christened Old &
In the Way.=
Rowan was working with
the Grateful Dead9s Jerry
Garcia in 1973 in the band
Old & In the Way. The band
was known for their blue-
grass covers of Rowan9s
<Panama Red= and Rolling
Stones9 <Wild Horses,= over
the years performing gigs
around the country and open-
ing for other bands.
<I had done a lot of stuff
leading up to the work with
Garcia so I had a lot of stuff
recorded and ready for use
on my own. So, working
with Garcia and the rest of
the bands was just another
way to learn better musician-
ship and have more experi-
ences out in the world,= he
said.
Now his musical journey
has led him back to Sisters
next weekend.
Tickets and day passes
are still available at www.
sistersfolkfestival.org.
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