By Josh Howell
A commonality for musicians of any standard, country music performer Kevin Fowler experienced his first musical influences at an early age. The nine year old Fowler, however, was initially intrigued not by music, but rather by football and was forced into piano lessons at his mother’s insistence– a decision for which he now thanks her. As Fowler and his father would listen to the local country music radio stations Fowler took a more personal interest in rock music.
“You have to find something to get your parents mad,” Fowler said mirthfully.
At the age of twenty-one, Fowler found himself attending West Texas A&M, taking business and finance courses, growing averse to the idea of a “real job,” and looking askance at the idea of working just for the money.
After playing regularly in a garage band, he chose to take up music professionally, a proposition his parents were unreceptive to at the outset. Though they believed, as most parents would given the circumstances, that this was nothing more than a naïve phase, they allowed him to pursue this career path, though they also warned him that he would be on his own. Soon after, Fowler moved to Los Angeles, California and enrolled in the Guitar Institute of Technology.
“It was like I was fresh off the turnip wagon. I had never even seen a homeless person. It was just big city life. There was definitely a lot of culture shock there. I learned how to survive and how to make do with ramen noodles,” Fowler said.
After leaving the Guitar Institute, Fowler returned to Texas. He took little interest in becoming a singer, instead choosing to become a guitar player for hire and working his way through several different, albeit liminal, styles of music- rock with Dangerous Toys and southern hard-rock with Thunderfoot.
He got his start as a singer through what he comically calls “LSD” or “Lead Singer’s Disease,” a condition in which the lead singer of a respective musical group rarely shows to rehearsals. During these times, Fowler would step into the lead role. As he continued to sing and write, he found himself both melodically and lyrically settling into a style more autochthonous to Texas culture.
His first single, Beer, Bait, and Ammo, he recorded and put out himself. He immediately found the work to be a more inauspicious task than he had first thought.
“We were so naïve. We thought you could put it in the mail and a radio station would play it,” said Fowler.
He and his band would drive in his truck to various radio stations across Texas and eventually began receiving airtime. Because of this exposure Beer, Bait, and Ammo, would go on to sell over 80, 000 copies and spawn numerous covers.
“I had no idea of the impact that song would have on my life,” Fowler said. “What’s cooler than having George Jones cutting your song?”
Their success extended beyond the Texas border and began to be played in Oklahoma, Ohio, and Phoenix. This allowed Fowler, who until then had been working as a part-time deliveryman for the Austin Chronicle, to quit his day job and play music as his sole means of income.
But as anyone who takes the slightest interest in music is aware, the nature of the business is a tumultuous one. Fowler is currently on his fourth record label since his first signing.
“There are two things I kill real well, a full bud light and record labels,” he said.
Through persistence, however, Fowler continued his work and developed a lyrical style, which often has a laid back, sometimes comedic, appeal. Even his song Political Incorrectness, which appears as more of a musical jeremiad when reading, is anything but when paired with its relaxing melodies strung out on his guitar.
“I refuse to take life to seriously. The worst thing for an artist is to take life to seriously. We’re not curing cancer or saving the baby whales, we’re just entertaining people,” Fowler said.
And yet Fowler rarely takes time off and has played live music every weekend save one since 2000.
“The group enjoys playing live,” he said. “I hope I’m like Willie Nelson when I’m 70, still wanting to play live 200 days a year. You really have to love the live element of it.”
Kevin Fowler will be performing at Ziegfest on September 5th. His entire tour schedule can be found on his Facebook site. His most recent release, Poundsign, is his first to break the top 40.