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And
anyone who’s ever been to a Kevin Fowler show knows
he does far more than just talk the talk—the man
delivers one of the most entertaining, high-energy
performances you’re likely to see in country or any
other genre, with a hard-ticket base that rivals
many gold-selling artists. A blend of in-your-face
rockin’ intensity, tongue-in-cheek humor and
captivating country storytelling, Kevin’s music has
his standing-room-only audiences hanging on every
word . . . and singing right along with him. Whether
it’s “Beer, Bait and Ammo,” “Cheaper to Keep Her,”
“The Best Mistake I Ever Made,” “Don’t Touch My
Willie” or any of the other unforgettable tunes that
have seen him regularly perched atop the Texas music
charts, Kevin’s music is the product of years spent
perfecting his craft.
Chippin’ Away
shows the progression of an artist and songwriter who not
only listens to his audience, he is his
audience. Tempo rules on the 11 cuts, beginning with
the tone-setting “Beer Money.” “Girl In A Truck” is
self-explanatory, and a live version of “Knocked Up”
is an obvious crowd favorite. (“You got knocked up,
and I got locked up; I guess you’d say that we both
got screwed.”) Muddy water washes cares away in “Big
River,” and everything he wants is in “That Girl.”
“Here’s To Me and You” is a beer-drinking anthem
about the love of friends, family and country. About
“Hell Yeah, I Like Beer,” Kevin confesses: “What
more can I say? If you know me, you know that this
song is definitely autobiographical.” The title cut
is one of the few songs Kevin didn’t have a hand in
writing. “I thought this song made a great title for
the new record because it kind of sums up my career
and my life. I just keep on keepin’ on. Just keep on
chippin’ away.” After a long week, all he can think
about is heading south in “Borderline Crazy.”
The
tempo slows early with the breakup song “I Could Do
That With You Gone.” “Daddies and Daughters” shows
the softest side of Kevin Fowler to date.
“This
song started because I have three daughters. We were
songwriting one day out at my ranch with Trent
Willmon and Brandon Kinney, who both have daughters
too. This song is the result of a conversation we
had that day about our girls. I think songs always
turn out better when they are about real-life
situations that you’ve experienced.”
A
prolific songwriter, who has had songs cut by the
likes of Montgomery Gentry, Mark Chesnutt, George
Jones and others, he also partnered with Rhett
Akins, Dallas Davidson, Ira Dean, Ben Hayslip, Clint
Ingersoll, Shane Minor, David Lee Murphy, Liz Rose
and Kim Tribble to write songs for
Chippin’ Away.
With
his career track record, it would be easy to assume
Kevin must’ve always known music would be his life’s
passion. After all, how can you be this good at
something and not have worked at it for a lifetime?
But he admits coming to his career path later in the
game than most.
“There was a day in life that changed me,” Kevin
recalls of the transformative epiphany he
experienced at the Texas Jam in the Cotton Bowl back
when he was about 20 years old. “I had been dabblin’
in music and played everything a little, but nothing
well. Aerosmith was there. White Snake. All these
bands were playing at a day-long festival. They were
hosing down the crowd with big fire hoses. And it
was just mayhem. I had never seen 100,000 people in
one place. I remember that day going, ‘Well, that’s
what I’m supposed to be doin’.’”
While
Amarillo boy Kevin may not have had a clear vision
of his life’s path prior to that momentous day, he
shouldn’t have been surprised when he finally
realized he was put on this earth to write songs and
entertain people. After all, he’d been entertaining
in one way or another since his attention-seeking
days as a self-described “band geek,” playing drums
in junior high and high school.
But
Kevin’s musical training had begun earlier when his
mom, Shirley, insisted he take piano lessons, in
spite of his hatred of it and his desire to play
football instead. Looking back, he thinks his folks
made the right call. “They were probably thinkin’ to
themselves, ‘We’ve seen you play football—that’s no
good!’” he laughs.
While
Kevin recalls knee-knocking piano recitals as his
first experience with live performing, his first
taste of country music came through the records his
dad played—Johnny Horton, Johnny Cash, Buck Owens
and Roy Clark. Kevin, of course, rebelled and
gravitated more toward rockers AC/DC, Kiss, The
Cars, Metallica, and other decidedly non-country
bands. “It wasn’t ‘til later on in life that I
thought, ‘that (country) stuff was really cool.’”
Kevin
recalls Amarillo as a good place to grow up, but
entertainment options were, let’s say, limited. That
meant 16-year-old Kevin and some buddies might sneak
a 6-pack of beer on a Friday night, head down the
road a few miles to tiny Vega—a town of under 1,000
people—find an old dirt road and “hide out.” Let the
good times roll!
A
move to L.A. came after Kevin, then a junior at West
Texas A&M in Canyon, saw that life-changing show at
the Cotton Bowl. With 100 credits toward a business
degree, he quit school and went to the coast to
study at the G.I.T guitar institute. While there, he
learned how incredibly competitive the music world
really is. So, was he intimidated?
“No.
It was just an eye opener. My mama always persisted
in telling me, ‘Whatever you’re gonna do, don’t be a
quitter.’ That’s why she never would let me quit
piano music. Somebody told me one time, ‘You’ve
gotta stay in the game long enough to get lucky.’”
After
finishing school in L.A., Kevin—a road warrior at
heart—made a move to the live music capitol of the
world, Austin, Texas. “That’s the only reason I got
into music . . . to play live,” says Kevin, who’ll
do about 150 shows this year.
Not
long after his move to Austin, Kevin joined a band
that became Rumble Train, but soon discovered he was
the only one with any motivation. Then he fell in
with long-haired rockers Dangerous Toys (yep,
short-haired, cowboy hat-wearing Kevin was in a hard
rock band—there’s a rumor photos exist!). And, not
surprisingly, they had a problem with Kevin’s tunes.
“‘Man, these are redneck songs! We can’t play any of
these.’” So, in a move that was more necessity than
intention, Kevin began singing them himself.
And
Kevin, the rocker who also wore out two cassettes of
George Strait’s Right or Wrong album, found a way to
combine the best of both worlds. “I’ve always liked
rock, for the attitude and the energy. But I’ve
always liked the country lyric. It just tells a
story. And I try to combine those elements . . .
make it rockin’ and fun with a good lyric in there,
a good turn of a phrase.”
That
ability has given Kevin more than a decade of
success in his Texas stomping grounds where he is
embraced with a vengeance by audiences who love him
and his music. But he wanted more.
Signing with Disney-owned Lyric Street Records, home
to Rascal Flatts, Shedaisy and Bucky Covington, he
thought he was his ticket to take his unique brand
of country to the masses. But just as his debut
single was flying up through the Top 40 radio chart,
and outselling everything around it, Disney
shuttered the label.
“At
first, my whole thing was to make a livin’ playin.’
‘Course, once you get that, you do want more. Right
now, we’re just tryin’ to spread the gospel of Hank
Williams and honky tonks to the rest of the world.”
But Kevin admits he’s intent on doing that without
alienating his strong, loyal fan base by changing
his music or who he is. “You gotta remember to dance
with who brung ya.”
If
the short-lived label deal was good for but one
thing, it showed Kevin that people across the
country were hungry for his style of music. As the
phone started ringing, Kevin began weighing his
options for the next steps in his career. He enjoyed
the taste of a national audience, but he wanted any
new music they heard to be just as true “Kevin
Fowler music” as what got them excited about him in
the first place.
He
caught wind of a small but passionate label called
Average Joe’s Entertainment, a nimble, lean and mean
powerhouse indie label with a reputation for
thinking – and delivering - outside the box. It was
a perfect fit for Kevin, and the new relationship
fits hand-in-glove with his music, his lifestyle and
his career.
Ultimately, Kevin knows he only has control over one
thing in his career. “What you do onstage . . .
nobody can make you sound crappy but you. That’s
Kevin Fowler Music 101 in a nutshell. Make it about
the fans, the live show and the music. And hopefully
everything else will come from there.”
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