Peter Rowan to perform Bill Monroe w/ help of Travelin’ McCourys at annual Bluegrass Fest
With the street sweepers clearing out the last of the fallen leaves comes the return of what’s quickly becoming a favorite local tradition, the Bozeman Bluegrass Festival! Headlining this year is Peter Rowan, a veteran songsmith and master of his craft.
A Grammy Award-winner and six-time nominee, Rowan is a bluegrass singer/songwriter with a career spanning over five decades – from his early years playing under the tutelage of bluegrass patriarch Bill Monroe, to his stint in Old & In the Way with Jerry Garcia, and subsequent breakout as both a solo performer and bandleader. Rowan has built a devoted, international fan base through his continuous stream of original recordings, collaborative projects, and constant touring.
In anticipation of his festival appearance, the Rolling Zone hopped on the phone with Rowan to talk his latest release and one or two tales of yore from his storied career.
RZ: Hi Peter. Looks like I’m catching you in southern Louisiana.
PR: I’m down here in Lafayette, Louisiana.
RZ: How’s the road treating you? You’re no stranger to touring.
PR: This late in the season, it feels like it’s time to get home and kind of start nesting
RZ: You’ve performed exhaustively all over the country and beyond. Do you ever notice whether region plays a role in how your music is perceived? Or is it just about the same everywhere?
PR: It’s different everywhere I go. Like playing in New Orleans, there’s a certain magic to it; playing in Ireland, there’s just a different feel. But places change. The last time I was up your way, I was in North Dakota and they had a Native American fella do a hoop dance in front of my show. For me, it’s exciting [to] interweave with the local culture. It’s a lot about atmosphere – places with good, strong atmosphere really make a difference. Looking forward to Bozeman, I haven’t been there in a long time.
RZ: We’re looking forward to it too! You’ll be headlining the 12th annual Bozeman Bluegrass Festival alongside the Travelin’ McCourys and a slew of other musicians, both local and touring. What do you have planned for the performance?
photo by Amanda Rowan
PR: Partly, [we’re] wanting to come up there and drift around in the hills a little bit, pick up the vibes. For the show, we’re going to focus on the music of Bill Monroe. The McCourys are steeped in that music. Their dad, Del McCoury, played guitar with Bill just before I joined the band back in the ‘60s. There’s a unique, very rare quality to that music. I wouldn’t say it’s exactly copied note for note, but there’s a tonality to it. It’s about as close to playing a traditional “quoting from the master” type of set that I do. I’m a songwriter, and if I can get some of that, it manages to infuse my writing with those roots. I think rather than seeing it as a Bill Monroe tribute set, we have to see it in the context of bluegrass as a broader perspective and touch upon the tones that have endured.
RZ: Our little festival has become somewhat of a fall tradition for live music lovers and their families – and we’re lucky someone of your stature is willing to come up here and lend your talents. As a performing artist with such multi-genre tenure, how important do you think these sorts of gatherings are to the continued appreciation of the age-old style of bluegrass?
PR: Not only bluegrass but just for people, that’s really important. For the age-old style of bluegrass, yeah. It’s good. It’s a language. There’s a homecoming feeling when you get together and play these things. I like the small festivals, myself. I enjoy them very much. And I don’t believe I’ve ever played bluegrass, per se, in Montana.
RZ: Your latest of many, many albums, Carter Stanley’s Eyes, released in the spring. What was your motivation behind creating that collection?
PR: To do something for Rebel Records, their history with Ralph Stanley kind of piqued my imagination, to really focus on the Stanley Brothers as an influence in my music. I realized over time that it was Carter Stanley who really touched me, his writing, somewhere between the trials and tribulations of earthly existence and the gospel-inspired, sacred feeling of these songs that transcend it. He’s unique in that. It’s a very curious thing to talk about mortality, you know, death and misfortune in a way that sort of brings you above it. I certainly had a lot to say about Carter Stanley. Both he as an artist and also the feeling of his music in my music. I listened to Stanley Bros.’ recordings – especially the gospel music, the hymns – when I was just starting to learn bluegrass. In fact, finding Bill Monroe’s music came secondarily. But truthfully, meeting [Carter] has meant more in these later years of reminiscence.
RZ: How do you mean?
PR: At the time, I wrote a little phrase in my diary, ‘I’ve seen the tombstones in Carter Stanley’s sunset eyes.’ I only found out in the last little bit of time that he was going to pass away within a year of [our] meeting. And it wasn’t like meeting him for the first time. We spent time together, all of us, on the bluegrass circuit, but in those days if you worked for Bill Monroe you were one of Bill’s boys, and if you worked for the Stanley Bros., you were one of the Stanley boys. It was a rivalry; the cross-pollination came through osmosis, I would say. Those guys were leaders of their style – the Stanley Bros. didn’t want to sound like Bill Monroe, and Bill Monroe didn’t want to sound like the Stanley Bros. But Carter was a bluegrass boy, worked with Bill, and brought a lot of songs back to play with Ralph, the Stanley Bros., that were a cross-pollination of his writing and Bill Monroe’s. In fact, they used to write together. Bill would finish a song and put his name on it, then Carter would finish his version of the song and put his name on it. That’s democratic [laughs].
RZ: Diplomacy at its best.
PR: That fascinated me. So, I went back into my notebook and put a little bit more of a “what it means to me now” to my experience with Carter Stanley. He wasn’t long for the world. When I said I could see the tombstones in his eyes, that’s what I was being hit with as a young kid. He was not well. But the story is true. We all sat together on that hillside, and I think that’s when Carter asked Bill if he would sing at his funeral. And he did a year later, something Bill was very proud of. I realized what I really got from Carter was the light that shines in his eyes. The real message is the inspiration.
RZ: You’re as known for your dedication to the instrumental quality of the songs you record and perform as you are for their lyrical content. So, what makes a good song? How do you find the balance between those ingredients?
PR: You gotta follow the magic, that’s the only way. You can’t really pin that one down. Technically songs can be very good. Bill Monroe put it in a funny way, he said a song may not be real, but it can be true, and a true song is as good as something true to life. That doesn’t mean it has to be a copy of life, but he said what makes a song real that it has a true-to-life quality. I couldn’t put my finger on it if I tried. Something in there has to test that place of humanity within us.
RZ: I imagine you’re always working on new songs, even if only a lyric here or a chord progression there. Are you thinking about a possible new album or some other project?
PR: I’ve got a few things started. Right now, I’m writing under the title of “The Wheel of Existence,” which is a Buddhist idea that there are six realms, the human, the animal and the various exalted beyond this world, heavenly realms. Each have a character. For me, the underlying theme [has been] what is it that sparks the magic, what is that quality of spiritual seeking of transcendence. I realize that after 70 years or so, I haven’t really ever written about anything differently. Those have been my themes all along.
RZ: You’re just exploring more and more for a greater understanding.
PR: It seems to never end.
RZ: You’ve been up to Montana, touring and whatnot, but have you had the opportunity to actually spend some time up here?
PR: We’ve all found time to kind of hang out up there, but it’s been a number of years for me. The last time I was there, I went out to the Custer battlefield. A friend of mine had gone out there to paint, Eric Von Schmidt, who was also a blues musician. So, they gave me permission to go down into the battlefield. I found it to be just amazing because as a kid in my generation, you saw the Custer movie and heard the trumpeter playing “Taps” at the end. To be able to come back knowing this is one of the crucibles of history, one of the meeting places of the racial conflict in America. I got to talk to a lot of the people involved in the Native American renaissance, and also went out to the Crow Reservation, which was one of the treaty tribes, to talk with folks out there. It’s so complicated. But it was one of those things [where] you get a view and it feeds you. I’m not an activist – much – but I try and reflect in my music where the sparks fly from things coming together.
RZ: We surely hope you can see a few more things while you’re here.
PR: I’m coming up a day early and don’t know what to expect. I’m just going to get out into the country – it’s amazing.
RZ: Well, we’re excited for the festival and your performance!
PR: It’s an honor to be invited back up to that part of the world and see the folks. We gotta water the roots and keep an eye on the sky.
The Travelin’ McCourys join Peter Rowan for the 12th Annual Bozeman Bluegrass Festival, returning to the Emerson Center for the Arts & Culture Friday and Saturday, November 9th–10th. This year’s event will also feature performances by Hot Buttered Rum, Larry Keel Experience, Dead Horses, Laney Lou & The Bird Dogs, Rumpke Mountain Boys, Whitewater Ramble, Armchair Boogie, The Fresh Boys, Bridger Creek Boys, Lazy Owl String Band, and Benjamin Jaffee of (HONEYHONEY).
Weekend passes, as well as single-day tickets, are available for purchase in-store at Cactus Records and www.chickenjamwest.com. Presented in conjunction with Bridger Brewing and Lionheart Caregiving, this is an all-ages event. Rowan and the McCourys are set to take the stage Saturday night at 8:30pm.
Learn more about Peter Rowan at www.peter-rowan.com or find him on Facebook for updated tour details and other announcements. His latest album, Carter Stanley’s Eyes, is available now. •
