Cover photo © 2024 Jim Hartzell

In the five years since his last interview for Blues Blast, guitarist Damon Fowler has managed to stay busy, even when you factor in the Covid period. It isn’t easy to keep a music career going these days, and Fowler has to balance his music business with being a husband to a wife with her own solid career, together raising three young children. Fowler has managed to make it all work, tempering all that life has to offer with a smile and lots of humor.

“We released a record on Landslide Records in 2021 called Alafia Moon, and we did really well with it. We also toured North America on a couple of tours with George Thorogood, went to Europe, did some tours over there with that record, and put out a record last year that I did with some friends entitled Live At The Palladium, which is a theater in St. Petersburg, Florida. Jason Ricci and my good friend Eddie Wright joined us for that one.

“Last summer we recorded a Southern Hospitality record, which we’re going to be releasing that this October, with Victor Wainwright on keyboards and J.P Soars on guitar. Meanwhile I recorded another record under my name that was released on June 7^th, entitled Barnyard Smile. In August, we’re back out on the road. When we play live, because we have quite a few recordings, I try to play a little bit of everything. People want to hear some older stuff and some of newer material.”

Alafia Moon featured ten Fowler originals and one cover. Fowler has a knack for selecting great songs from other songwriters, and his version of Guy Clark’s “The Guitar” is one of the highlights of his live shows. One of his original songs was the result of an unfortunate error that quickly spun out of control.

“Well, “Tax Man” is the closest thing to me, a 45 year old male who grew up in the eighties living in Florida, can get to experiencing the blues. In 2013 I was touring with my trio and we played a spot in Kansas. I got paid me $600 and a couple of hotel rooms, and we went on our way. Years later, about two weeks after I got married, I got served with papers from the IRS.

“The lady club owner in Kansas hired someone to do her taxes, a friend or something. And she basically got a little happy with zeros, accidentally reporting that I made $60,000 that night. I didn’t make $60,000 the entire year! It was a mistake, but it took me a long time to prove to the IRS. They made good by it once I provided all of the correct stuff, but that also gave them the opportunity to go through all my other records and back taxes and stuff. And I got in trouble. Hey, but I’m compliant now. It only takes once!”

The live album from a night at the Palladium was a treat for the guitarist, who always thrives playing in any gathering of his musical friends.

“It’s a great sounding spot. And it was Fowler and Friends. So I had Eddie Wright playing some guitar. I had my friend Dan Signor playing keyboards. Justin Headley played drums, Chuck Riley played bass. It was just one of those nights that turned out really good musically. Jason Ricci played harmonica, and crushed it. I’m really proud of the recording of it.

“Eddie Wright’s one of my favorite people. I met Ed when I was pretty young. I was probably 15 or 16 years old. We met at Skipper’s Smokehouse in Tampa. He was hanging around this young girl who was playing guitar in a band for a girl named Dee Dee Dunn, who was like a 1990s Ally Venable. She was a pretty girl, played great guitar. Eddie Wright was playing guitar with her, and the bass player with my band.

At the time, I needed some guitar repairs. I’d been going to all the music stores, and they just couldn’t fix this one guitar. So I started taking my guitar to Ed to get fixed. Once I got my driver’s license, Eddie was playing in South Tampa at this place called Albee’s. He played acoustic guitar while on top of the refrigerator. I would go down and see him, always loved his playing and singing. A few years later, we got an opportunity to play some Monday nights in my hometown of Brandon, Florida and our relationship really bloomed.

“We started a band called the Monday Night Blues Orchestra, playing every Monday. Eventually that band turned into a band called Ed Zeppelin. We played every Monday night for about 10 years at this Irish pub in Brandon. And it was some fun times! Eddie writes and he’s a great guitar player, plus he’s a great dude. As I’ve grown and started recording more stuff, he’s been at my side, helping me.

“He’s really a songwriting partner for me now, and just a good friend. We hang out. Sometimes we write, sometimes we get stuff done, sometimes we don’t. We just kind of try and let it happen organically. In our area, Eddie is one of those guys that you learn from through like osmosis. He doesn’t sit down and teach you stuff most of the time. You learn stuff and then years later you use that skill, then you’re like, how did I even know that? And then you’re like, oh, I think I learned that from Eddie. He’s a great guitar luthier, with a super gift for fixing. He can take wood glue, some sawdust, and pretty much fix anything on a guitar.”

The second album from Southern Hospitality has been a long time coming, which is easy to understand as the three principals each of very successful solo careers. Their first album, Easy Livin’, came out 11 years ago on Blind Pig Records.

“The upcoming release will be called Yard Sale. It features me, Victor, and J.P., plus Chris Peet on drums and Terrence Grayson on bass. What we did on this record, we went to Ohio to Tony’s Treasures. It’s a guy named Mark Puskarich, who runs the Blues for a Cure program along with guitarist Sean Carney. He’s got a studio up there, it’s like an apartment barn thing that’s really awesome.

“Last summer, the band went to Cadiz, Ohio and played their festival for Blues for a Cure. While we were there, we took maybe about eight or nine days to sit down and write this record. We all had ideas that we brought to the table, but nothing was finished. That was part of the fun of it, you bring like an outline or a skeleton of a tune, then everybody contributes. We recorded a ton and I think ten songs made it on the record. We have a lot of fun with the band, which seems to really translate to our fans. We’ve never really taken it too seriously. There’s a chemistry, and it’s always a fun adventure for us.”

With two new projects out there, one would think that Fowler would have plenty to do. But just like some years ago when he toured as part of a band led by Allman Brother drummer Butch Trucks while also playing dates with Allman guitarist Dickie Betts, and touring with George Thorogood, Fowler is always open to new opportunities.

“The new band is called Desoto Tiger featuring me, Jonathan “Boogie” Long on vocals and guitar, Jason Ricci on harmonica, Chuck Riley on bass, and Ray Hangen on drums. We played the WC Handy Fest in June, and we’re playing the Wheeling, West Virginia Fest in August, and we’re playing the North River Blues Fest in Marshfield, MA in August. The plan is to get together possibly sometime in the cold months of November, December, and January, down in Florida, possibly do some writing and see where it takes us. It’s been a really fun project so far. I’m leaving it open to the universe, but I would hope for it to carry on.”

With an album title like Barnyard Smile, you know there has to be a story – and you would be right.

“I’m a fan of YouTube, and WorldStarHipHop, which is a kind of a version of YouTube, and I watch a lot of that stuff. One night I saw one where these guys were getting into an altercation. They were just hanging out in their yard, being friendly. But then one guy told his friend that he had a barnyard smile, and it really pissed that dude off, man. They started scrapping real hard, and I was like, I’ve never heard that term before, but I really like it, and don’t even know what it means! It just kind of stuck with me, so when it was time to name the record, it’s a barnyard smile.”

Fowler’s music flows through many genres without staying in one place too long. It is an eclectic blend that has served him well over the course of his career.

“To me, country music and blues are pretty much the same. And a good song is a good song. And I’ve got to be honest, I think sometimes in the blues world, there is a lack of good songs. I just note this to anybody trying to make music You know, I’ve made bad songs, and I’ve made terrible decisions before. I don’t listen to modern country That’s like 80s rock to me. But Hank Williams senior and Robert Johnson, the chord progressions, the place emotionally where their music is coming from are so similar.

“One time, I was at the Blues Music Awards in Memphis. Bettye LaVette, the fine vocalist, sang a George Jones tune, a song called “Choices”, and it’s a great song, She gave it the soul treatment and killed it, getting a standing ovation. You could hear everyone talking, being like, oh, was that an original song? That was a great song! Oh my god! Oh my god! They obviously had never heard the song. The fact is that the song was 25 years old, and for me, it’s good music if it comes from your heart and from your soul. I don’t really care under what umbrella it came from, Bettye crushed that tune. Her version was equally as good as George’s, just fantastic.

“Another song I heard the other day, it was a George Jones tune. Kid Anderson, from Rick Estrin’s band, is a great producer. I really love his style of production. He helped produce a record for singer Frank Bey, who did a soul version of “He Stopped Loving Her Today.” And man, it sounds so good! I just like good songs, soul music, blues music, early rock and roll and I like country, but before Alabama.

“I don’t want to make a record that I can’t play live. When I was in my early twenties, I put out my second record, called Roots and Branches. I layered a bunch of stuff on it, put my heart into it, but then after I put the record out, I realized I couldn’t play any of these tunes live. I use a three piece band, so I can’t cover all these guitar tracks. I think it’s a little bit more honest approach when you try to do it the simple, straight-forward way.

“I’m a fan of live records, you know, like B.B. King Live At The Regal. That’s one that’s just magic, or the Allman Brothers At Fillmore East, or Little Feat’s Waiting for Columbus. It just goes on and on. I love being in the studio. I love writing. I love the controlled environment, but I also like the crazy recklessness of “anything can happen” when you’re playing live.

Fowler is an outstanding guitar player, as anyone who has heard him live will attest to. Additionally, he is part of a dedicated group that continues to utilize the lap steel guitar

“With the lap steel, a lot of times it’s about what tuning you’re in. When you play, some people can play slide in a standard tuning, just like you would normally tune your guitar. But then some people tune it to a chord. So on a lap steel or even a pedal steel guitar, you tune it to a chord, a specific chord. That means specific keys that are easier to play. On guitar, you can either play standard tuning or a lot of times when we do this stuff, I’m a huge Johnny Winter fan, so I’ll tune to an open A or an open G for playing guitar. But then when I’m playing steel guitar, I normally use an E or a D, and so it’s a different sound shape. On Barnyard Smile, I played baritone guitar on “Fast Driving Woman”. “Fruita” is an instrumental that has a spacey texture.

“I like Florida history. Along the lines of Desoto Tiger, the origin of the name came from the Ashley Gang. There’s a guy named John Ashley, who lived in Okeechobee in the 1920s. He and his gang were rum runners, bank robbers, but they were like Robin Hood figures, because the community of Okeechobee was desolate, nothing down there.

“They would go and do their crimes, but then they’d bring the loot and give back to the community. So when John Ashley would get arrested, the community would break him out. They broke him outta jail, four, five, six times, something like that. Eventually, they were dealing with the Native Americans in the Everglades and the chief was named Tommy Tiger. His son’s name was Desoto Tiger, who was murdered by John Ashley over some otter hides. John Ashley, his girlfriend Laura Upthegrove, and all their people lived in a town, or campsite, whatever you want to call it, in the Everglades that was called “Fruita”. That’s where I got DeSoto Tiger and “Fruita”. If you’re into Florida history, check out the Ashley Gang.”

Asked about being a dad in the midst of juggling all of his various musical endeavors, Fowler let out a hardy chuckle.

“Well, I don’t sleep much, not as much as I’d like. Lacy, my wife, and I communicate a lot, trying to spend as much time as a family unit as we can. Actually, our summer’s been great. We went to Alabama, ate hot dogs and shot fireworks for a week. It was really fun. My kids are obviously on summer vacation now, so there’s school shopping, we do a lot of family dinners, go to the park, all the regular stuff. It’s not like we’re wasting time. I’m working, Lacey’s working at the Kennedy Space center. Yesterday we went to the mall. I haven’t been to the mall in a really long time, and I was ready to get out pretty quick. Lacy’s family really helps a lot. Her mom watches the kids. We have a really nice support system.

“A lot of these gigs, I’m doing fly outs on Thursday, back home Sunday night. Then Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, I normally watch the kids. Our son Max is doing great. He is in an expedited math program, doing math all summer. If he can finish, he’s going into sixth grade but will be done with eighth grade math.

“Man, truthfully, I have been wondering lately why does everything have to be digital? Why does everything have to be on a tablet? What’s wrong with buttons and knobs? Why can’t kids learn how to write? You guys are teaching the long, hard way around math. You’ve got to log into a portal?

“And why is it when I go and buy some guitar strings, they want my phone number and email, then get an attitude when I don’t want to give it to them? Just sell me the damn strings, man. Here’s your eight dollars. That’s part of the reason I finally gave up and started using Amazon, I was just tired of all that. Just let me buy my stuff and leave me alone. Why can’t you use cash? What’s wrong with cash? When I was a kid, cash was king. My grandpa was like, boy, have a stash of cash in your wallet and keep a mental note of what you got. I mean, I still do it. I carry cash in whatever pants or shorts I’m wearing.”

Everything is clicking for Mr. Fowler, and he is enjoying the success and attention, without taking anything for granted. “I am fortunate that I have been able to work with so many talented artists over the years, and that people are still supporting me. I want them to know that I love playing music. I feel super lucky that I get to do this for my job.”

Visit Damon’s website at www.damon-fowler.com to see when he is playing live near you!