Peter
Rowan:
Americana Master Series,
The Best Of The Sugar Hill Years
Compilation produced by Stephen Brower
Americana
Master Series, The Best Of The Sugar Hill Years
This
new series presents the award-winning music of Sugar Hill’s Americana Masters.
Researched and compiled from the artist’s body of work on Sugar Hill Records,
these tracks were culled from radio chart toppers, fan mail, downloads, and
songs and tunes that are recurrent favorites at live performances.
The
series is designed to provide longstanding fans with a collection of favorites.
For new fans, this series offers concise entry into the artistic output of these
seminal artists—with liner notes that can help them to discover more and to
delve more deeply into the artist’s catalog.
PETER
ROWAN
The Telluride Bluegrass Festival of 2006
produced my favorite Peter Rowan memory, though he was nowhere to be seen. I’d
taken a break from the crowd and was listening to Rowan perform with Tony
Rice’s band from our campsite a half mile away, where, thanks to our location
and the clean mountain air, it sounded perfect. And when Rowan’s voice began
arching its way through “Walls of Time,” the song filled the gargantuan
valley as if it were emanating from the billion year old rocks themselves. It
seemed like a song the mountains would sing, a timeless and unforgettable
marriage of music and earth.
On this Americana Masters collection, you can
hear Rowan’s recorded version of the song, cut as the title track of his Sugar
Hill Records debut in 1988. His vocal partner, Ricky Skaggs, recorded his own
version of “Walls of Time” nearly 20 years later, producing one of the great
modern-era bluegrass sides. It’s a certifiable classic, and if Rowan’s only
claim to fame was having co-written it with Bill Monroe, we’d have to take
notice of this man. But there is much more to Rowan’s 40-year career than one
song. He may be the most authentic bridge between Monroe’s austere and seminal
form of bluegrass and the exploratory restlessness of newgrass. He’s a
progressive purist and a pure progressive, a searching but rooted artist whose
peers include John Hartford and Earl Scruggs. Flamboyant and always exciting, he
can follow any act in acoustic music and leave a happy audience happier than he
found them.
Bill Monroe was merely the first in a long line
of masters with whom Rowan, a Boston native, has worked closely. Peter was a
guitarist and singer with the Bluegrass Boys between 1964 and 1967. Then he went
on to collaborate with mandolinist David Grisman, fiddler Richard Greene,
guitarist Clarence White, accordionist Flaco Jiminez, and dobro innovator Jerry
Douglas. His band Old & In The Way with fiddler Vassar Clements and
guitarist Jerry Garcia became a seminal album of the newgrass movement. His
partnerships with the great
Nashville Bluegrass Band (heard on three cuts here) produced modulated magic.
His prolific career has been influential for new generations of roots music
fans, because he can draw from and reinterpret such a huge array of sounds, from
rock and reggae to Tex-Mex and Tin Pan Alley, with bluegrass hovering behind all
of it.
That said, Rowan doesn’t need to lean on
anyone; his album Dustbowl Children featured the artist on his own, and the
result is a stark marvel that showcases his songwriting and his estimable
singing. Indeed as a vocalist, Rowan occupies his own huge niche in Americana.
He can yodel with full-bodied enthusiasm, like Jimmie Rodgers as Sioux warrior.
His tone can be ripe and lusty or parched and lonesome. He pronounces vowels
like Woody Guthrie, with a little yelp. He’s got large lungs and he isn’t
afraid to hit the dark, overtone-rich bent notes that sound out of tune to
unaccustomed ears. He sings frighteningly good harmony and can do it with
anyone.
It is remarkable that Rowan has not been
anthologized to this point. Few are more deserving, and these 15 songs will
explain why.
Craig Havighurst
Nashville, March 2007
1. That High Lonesome Sound (with the Nashville
Bluegrass Band) 3:09
Peter Rowan (Jubilation Music Int’l, BMI)
From the Album: New Moon Rising SUG-3762
Peter Rowan: Lead Vocals, Guitar
Alan O’Bryant: Tenor Vocals, Banjo
Pat Enright: Guitar
Mike Compton: Baritone Vocals, Mandolin, Mandola
Stuart Duncan: Fiddle, Tenor Guitar
Mark Hembree: Bass Vocals, Acoustic Bass
2. A Jealous Heart and a Worried Mind 2:59
Peter Rowan (Sea Lion Music, BMI)
From the Album: Bluegrass Boy SUG-3859
Peter Rowan: Vocal, Mandolin
Laurie Lewis: Harmony Vocal
Charles Sawtelle: Guitar
Richard Greene: Fiddle
Mike Munford: Banjo
Roy Huskey, Jr.: Upright Bass
3. Walls of Time 4:32
P. Rowan, B. Monroe (B. Monroe Music, BMI)
From the Album: The Walls of Time SUG-3722
Peter Rowan: Guitar & Vocals
Ricky Skaggs: Mandolin, Mandola, High Baritone & Tenor Vocals
Eddie Adcock: Banjo, Baritone Vocals
Alan O’Bryant: Banjo, Tenor Vocals
Sam Bush: Mandolin, Fiddle
Jerry Douglas: Dobro
Triona Ni Dhomhnaill: Clavinet
Lightning Chance: Bass, Bass Vocal
4. Dust Bowl Children 3:49
P. Rowan (Sea Lion Music, BMI)
From the Album: Dust Bowl Children SUG-3781
Peter Rowan: Guitar, Mandola, and Vocals
5. Girl in the Blue Velvet Band (with Jerry
Douglas) 3:46
Traditional, Arr. Peter Rowan and Jerry Douglas (Sea Lion Music, Admin by Bug
Music, BMI/Flux Music, ASCAP)
From the Album: Yonder SUG-3847
Peter Rowan: Vocal, Guitar, and Mandolin
Jerry Douglas: Dobro and Weissenborn Guitar
6. All on a Rising Day 3:46
P. Rowan, P. Flynn (Sea Lion Music, BMI/Meaculpa, ASCAP)
From the Album: All on a Rising Day SUG-3791
Peter Rowan: Vocals, Guitar
Alan O’Bryant: Vocals, Banjo
Stuart Duncan: Fiddle
Sam Bush: Vocals, Mandolin
Roy Huskey, Jr.: Bass
Jerry Douglas: Vocals, Guitar, Dobro
7. Hiroshima Mon Amour 3:40
Peter Rowan (Jubilation Music Int’l, BMI)
From the Album: Peter Rowan with the Red Hot Pickers SUG-3733
Peter Rowan: Guitar & Vocals
Richard Greene: Fiddle
Tony Trishka: Banjo
Andy Statman: Mandolin
Roger Mason: Bass
8. Rainmaker 4:25
P. Rowan, G. Nicholson (Sea Lion Music, BMI/Cross Keys, ASCAP)
From the Album: Dust Bowl Children SUG-3781
Peter Rowan: Guitar, Mandola, and Vocals
9. The First Whippoorwill 4:8
B. Monroe (Rightsong Music, BMI)
From the Album: The First Whippoorwhill SUG-3749
Peter Rowan: Lead & Rhythm Guitar,
Vocals
Alan O’Bryant: Guitar, Tenor Vocals
Sam Bush: Mandolin, Baritone Vocals
Bill Keith: Banjo
Richard Greene: Lead Fiddle, Bass Vocals
Buddy Spicher: Harmony Fiddle
Roy Huskey, Jr.: Bass
10. You
Taught Me How to Lose (with Jerry Douglas) 2:31
Peter Rowan (Sea Lion Music, Admin, by Bug Music, BMI)
From the Album: Yonder SUG-3847
Peter Rowan: Vocal, Guitar, and Mandolin
Jerry Douglas: Dobro and Weissenborn Guitar
11. Memories of You (with the Nashville
Bluegrass Band) 3:11
J.B. Smith (Peer Intl. Corp., BMI)
From the Album: New Moon Rising SUG-3762
Peter Rowan: Lead Vocals, Guitar
Alan O’Bryant: Tenor Vocals, Banjo
Pat Enright: Guitar, Tenor Vocal
Mike Compton: Baritone Vocals, Mandolin, Mandola
Stuart Duncan: Fiddle, Tenor Guitar
Mark Hembree: Bass Vocals, Acoustic Bass
12. Last
Train 3:33
P. Rowan (Songs of Polygram, Inc./Ricky Skaggs Music, BMI)
From the Album: All on a Rising Day SUG-3791
Peter Rowan: Vocals, Guitar
Alan O’Bryant: Vocals, Banjo
Stuart Duncan: Fiddle
Sam Bush: Vocals, Mandolin
Roy Huskey, Jr.: Bass
Jerry Douglas: Vocals, Guitar, Dobro
13. Howlin’ at the Moon 3:33
P. Rowan (Sea Lion Music, BMI)
From the Album: All on a Rising Day SUG-3791
Peter Rowan: Vocals, Guitar
Alan O’Bryant: Vocals, Banjo
Stuart Duncan: Fiddle
Sam Bush: Vocals, Mandolin
Roy Huskey, Jr.: Bass
Jerry Douglas: Vocals, Guitar, Dobro
14. Wild Geese Cry Again 3:52
Peter Rowan (Sea Lion Music, BMI)
From the Album: Bluegrass Boy SUG-3859
Peter Rowan: Vocal, Mandolin
Charles Sawtelle: Guitar
Richard Greene: Fiddle
Mike Munford: Banjo
Buell Neidlinger: Upright Bass
15. Meadow Green (with the Nashville Bluegrass
Band) 6:22
P. Rowan (Sea Lion Music, BMI)
From the Album: New Moon Rising SUG-3762
Peter Rowan: Lead Vocals, Guitar
Alan O’Bryant: Tenor Vocals, Banjo
Pat Enright: Guitar
Mike Compton: Baritone Vocals, Mandolin, Mandola
Stuart Duncan: Fiddle, Tenor Guitar
Mark Hembree: Bass Vocals, Acoustic Bass
Maura O’Connell: Harmony Vocals
WALLS OF TIME:
Produced by Peter Rowan, assisted by Jim Rooney. Originally released in
1982.
PETER ROWAN AND THE RED HOT PICKERS: Produced
by Peter Rowan, Richard Greene & Hiroshi Asada. Originally released in 1984.
The 1st WHIPPOORWILL: Produced by
Peter Rowan & Jim Rooney. Originally released in 1985.
NEW MOON RISING: Produced by Peter
Rowan. Originally released in 1988.
DUST BOWL CHILDREN: Produced by
Peter Rowan, Jerry Douglas & Bil VornDick. Originally released in 1990.
ALL ON A RISING DAY: Produced by
Jerry Douglas. Originally released in 1991.
BLUEGRASS BOY: Produced by Peter
Rowan & Jim Rooney. Originally released in 1996.
YONDER: Produced by Jerry Douglas.
Originally released in 1996.
Compilation produced by Stephen Brower
Re-mastered by David Glasser, Airshow Mastering, Boulder, CO
Photography by Will McIntyre,
Winston-Salem, NC
Design by Sue Meyer,
suemeyerdesign.com