Peter Rowan Bluegrass Band at Center for the Arts

The Peter Rowan Bluegrass Band consists of outstanding musicians with over 100 years of combined
recording and performance experience. Joining guitarist Peter Rowan are Chris Henry, mandolin and
vocals, Max Wareham, banjo and vocals, Julian Pinelli, fiddle and Eric Thorin, bass. The ensemble has
graced the stages of Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, Grey Fox, Merlefest, Rothbury Australia’s National Folk
Festival, and numerous other festivals domestically and abroad, entertaining audiences with original and
traditional songs executed in vibrant harmony.

In April 2013 Peter Rowan released The Old School, a magnificent blending of old-school sounds and
players (Del McCoury, Jesse McReynolds, Bobby Osborne and Buddy Picher) with some of the bright
young talent such as Chris Henry, Ronnie & Robbie McCoury performing memorable new songs such as
“Doc Watson Morning”, “Drop The Bone” and “Keepin’ It Between The Lines (Old School)”. The Old School followed the group’s debut album for Nashville’s Compass Records entitled Legacy; the recording, featuring traditional and original compositions, was produced by Compass owner/recording artist Alison Brown and includes Ricky Skaggs, Gillian Welch, David Rawlings, and Del McCoury. Legacy received a Grammy nomination in 2010. Rebel Records was the home for Peter’s next bluegrass masterpiece, Carter Stanley’s Eyes, and 2022 saw Peter’s second Rebel release, Calling You From My Mountain, which received a 2022 Grammy nomination for Best Bluegrass Album. The new album, featuring traditional and original compositions, features special guests Billy Strings and Molly Tuttle.

Grammy-award winner and six-time Grammy nominee, Peter Rowan’s career spans over five decades. From his early years playing under the tutelage of bluegrass patriarch Bill Monroe, Peter’s stint in Old & In the Way with Jerry Garcia and his 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.

Born in Wayland, Massachusetts to a musical family, Rowan learned to play guitar from his uncle. He spent his teenage years absorbing the sights and sounds of the Hillbilly Ranch, a legendary Country music nightclub in Boston frequented by old-time acts like The Lilly Brothers and Tex Logan. In 1956 Peter Rowan formed his first band, the Cupids, while still in high school.

After three years in college, Rowan left academia to pursue a life in music. Rowan began his professional career in 1963 as the singer, rhythm guitarist and songwriter for the Bluegrass Boys, led by the founding father of bluegrass, Bill Monroe. “One thing I started to like about the Monroe style was that there was a lot more blues in it than other styles of bluegrass,” reflects Rowan. “It was darker. It had more of an edge to it. And yet it still had the ballad tradition in it, and I loved that.”

The late ‘60s and early 70’s saw Rowan involved in a number of rock, folk, and bluegrass projects, including Earth Opera, Sea Train, Muleskinner, and the Rowans, where he played alongside brothers Chris and Lorin Rowan. Rowan subsequently embarked on a well-received solo career in the late ‘70s, releasing critically acclaimed records such as Dustbowl Children (a Woody-Guthrie style song cycle about the Great Depression), Yonder (a record of old-time country music in collaboration with ace dobro player, Jerry Douglas) and two extraordinarily fine bluegrass albums, The First Whippoorwill and Bluegrass Boy, as well as High Lonesome Cowboy, a recording of traditional and old-time mountain music with Don Edwards and Norman Blake.

The band performs original songs written by Rowan along with Carter Family and Bill Monroe favorites, a winning combination for an audience that knows and loves this music! Don’t miss this night of bluegrass music with the wonderful Peter Rowan Bluegrass Band on April 21, 2023 at The Center for the Arts.