CHRIS & LORIN ROWAN
Singers/songwriters/Multi-instrumentalists

“The modern day Everly Brothers
with a splash of bluegrass...”

Chris and Lorin Rowan were born and raised near Boston, Massachusetts where their more famous brother Peter was already making a name for himself in Earth Opera. All three brothers played in folk, bluegrass and pop bands. In the early ‘70s, through their brother’s connection, Chris and Lorin got hooked up with aspiring producer and instrumental wizard David Grisman. Before long, Chris and Lorin along with Grisman moved to “where it was happening” San Francisco, and they still reside there today. One of the brother’s first gigs in the Bay Area was opening for the Grateful Dead at the closing of the Fillmore West in 1971. Shortly thereafter Clive Davis (Columbia Records) and David Geffen (Asylum) got into a bidding war for the talented singer/songwriters. Davis won out and the band produced the lavish and much-neglected The Rowans Brothers album on Columbia (1972), (reissued in 2003 on Evangeline Recorded Works) which was produced by Grisman under the name of David Diadem. Musicians appearing on the album included drum legend Jim Keltner, Grisman, and the Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia and Bill Kreutzmann. Not long after the release of the album Davis got canned from the label and the Rowans were left without support. A planned second album never materialized.

David Geffen came to the rescue and signed the brothers (now with Peter as part of the group) to Asylum. With Peter in tow they changed their moniker to simply The Rowans. They recorded three albums; The Rowans (1976) (reissued on CD by Collector’s Music Choice in 2003) Sibling Rivalry (1977) and Jubilation (1978). The two later albums have also just been reissued by Collector’s Music Choice in 2003, combined on one CD. The albums sold moderately well with a couple of singles breaking the top 100. Peter eventually went back to his bluegrass roots and Chris and Lorin continued for a while as The Rowans before venturing into some different musical areas. Throughout the years Chris and Lorin and occasionally Peter have continued to play as The Rowans periodically. In 1999 they released the bluegrass-based Tree On the Hill (Sugar Hill Records) and in 2003 Crazy People (Evangeline). Both Chris and Lorin have also released independent albums and have various side music projects.

Now, Chris and Lorin come full circle with the release of their new album "Now and Then" (BOS Music). The two-CD set will contain 34 genre-jumping tracks. Disc one features seventeen newly recorded songs that are laced with tight harmonies, haunting melodies and underscored by crisp guitar, mandolin and steel guitar picking. They offer a versatile and exciting mixture of bluegrass-flavored folk and Everly Brothers style rock and country. Contrasting the new tracks are seventeen vintage cuts (all previously unreleased in the US and making their debut on CD). These tracks date from the duo’s early 70s pop-rock forays with David Grisman. The album features an impressive cast of backing players including: Hal Blaine, Jerry Garcia, Richard Greene, David Grisman, Jim Keltner, Bill Kreutzmann, Phil Lesh, Mookie Siegel, Barry Sless, and many more.

Several of the Rowans songs have been recorded by national artists ranging from Jefferson Starship to most recently, the title track of country artist Ricky Skaggs' Grammy Award winning CD, "Soldier of the Cross", written by Lorin. A stripped down reworking of the song, here renamed “Soldier's Cross”, is on the new album serving as a musical segue between the new and the old.

The Rowans have appeared at The Kerrville Folk Fest, TX, and Telluride Music Festival, toured extensively as The Rowan Brothers (sometimes with brother, Peter) in the U.S. Europe, and Japan. They’ve performed on shows with Shawn Colvin, James Taylor, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Randy Travis, Alison Krauss, Nanci Griffith and others, as well as on National Public Radio's Garrison Keilor's Prairie Home Companion.

Most recently the brothers performed with Phil Lesh as members of Phil Lesh & The Hepcats’ with Lorin on lead guitar/vocals and Chris on acoustic rhythm guitar/vocals. At the start of 2003, Chris and Lorin played the featured actor/musician roles of brothers Cal and Fred Maddox, in the world premiere of the musical play ‘The Maddox Brothers and Rose’ (Sprekels Theatre/Performance Center of the Arts); the story of one of country music’s most popular earliest bands to mix country with rockabilly.

2004 will see The Rowan Brothers (Chris and Lorin) touring in full support of the new album and renewing a musical journey that began three decades ago presenting an intriguing blend of the “Now and Then.”

For more information contact:
Skip Daly
skip@bosmusic.com
703-901-8885

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