The father of bluegrass music, Bill Monroe said that bluegrass music has brought more people together, and made more friends, than any music in the world. On Friday, Kona residents will make new friends as bluegrass musician and composer Peter
The father of bluegrass music, Bill Monroe said that bluegrass music has brought more people together, and made more friends, than any music in the world. On Friday, Kona residents will make new friends as bluegrass musician and composer Peter Rowan takes the stage at Aloha Theatre in Kainaliu before heading to Hilo for a Saturday show at The Polynesian Room.
Rowan, a Grammy Award winner and six-time Grammy Award nominee, is a singer-songwriter with a career spanning more than five decades. At the age of 17, he played with Monroe until his early 20s, when he branched out on his own in Nashville, Tenn., as a solo musician and band leader.
Today, Rowan has a devoted and international following due to his prolific recording projects and busy touring schedule.
“I was 17, and Bill Monroe was on tour, so a friend of mine recommended me to him and we played a big show in Boston,” said Rowan. “Bill Monroe then invited me to be a part of his Bluegrass Boys, and for me it was the greatest. I played with Monroe until I was 22 or 23, then I stayed in Nashville for some years. Bill Monroe once said to me, ‘If you can play my music, you can play any kind of music.’”
Born into a musical family in the countryside of Massachusetts, Rowan learned to play guitar from his uncle. As a teenager, he hung out at the legendary country music venue, the Hillbilly Ranch, that hosted acts such as the Lilly Brothers and Tex Logan. Rowan formed his first band, the Cupids, in 1956 while still in high school. He shares about how he got hooked on Bluegrass music.
“I was one of those kids that couldn’t keep still,” he said. “It was difficult for me to even take a nap, so my mother would let me listen to the radio. At that time Bluegrass and old time music had a great deal of popularity on the radio, at least in the Eastern part of the United States where I lived. I got into the radio pretty deeply and I by the time of was 5 or 6, when Bluegrass first aired, the radio had become my friend. Then as I got older, I was finding bluegrass more satisfying than rock ‘n’ Roll, because it was acoustic, with beautiful harmonies, mixed with some gospel and blues.”
After three years in college, Rowan chose to pursue his music career, and in 1963 is when he joined Monroe as a singer, rhythm guitarist and songwriter for his band, The Bluegrass Boys. Rowan said that he enjoyed Monroe’s style because it contained more blues than the other styles of bluegrass, and had more of an edge to it while maintaining the ballads of traditional bluegrass.
In the 1970s, Rowan joined up with David Grisman, Jerry Garcia, Vassar Clements and John Kahn to form a bluegrass band called “Old &In the Way.” During this time, Rowan wrote the song “Panama Red,” which subsequently became a hit for The New Riders of the Purple Sage and has stayed a classic ever since.
Later that decade, Rowan branched out into a successful solo career, releasing two acclaimed bluegrass albums, “The First Whippoorwill and Bluegrass Boy,” as well as “High Lonesome Cowboy,” a recording of traditional and old-time mountain music with Don Edwards and Norman Blake. His recent release, “Quartet,” recorded with Tony Rice and Legacy and the Peter Rowan Bluegrass Band, has kept him busy on an international performance tour.
Rowan’s songwriting also includes Hawaiian influences, including the late Grammy Award winner Denise Kamakahi.
“Beyond being a Hawaiian musician, Kamakahi was a songwriter first. That’s how I look at myself. I’m a bluegrass musician, but basically I’m a singer/songwriter,” said Rowan. “One late evening as a kid, I caught this show called ‘Arthur Godfrey on the Beach in Waikiki’ and he was playing this Hawaiian music with steel guitar. I think he liked to party in Hawaii and he got NBC to underwrite his broadcasts from the beach on Hawaii. Then there was another radio show called Hawaii Calls, which was pure Hawaiian music. I loved it.”
The legendary Peter Rowan performs at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Aloha Theater in Kainaliu, and 7 p.m. on Sunday at The Polynesian Room in Hilo. Doors open 30 minutes prior to showtime. Tickets are $25 for general admission and $45 for Gold Circle Admission.
For tickets, Gold Circle Premium seating and more information, visit www.lazarbear.com or call 896-4845. Tickets can also be purchased at Kiernan’s Music, Aloha Theatre, Sound Wave Music, Waimea General Store, Taro Patch Gifts in Honokaa, Hilo Guitars, Naniloa Hotel Front Desk, CD Wizard, and Hilo Music Exchange.
