Peter Rowan (born 1942) is a singer, songwriter, and rhythm guitarist who has worked in bluegrass for sixty years. He sang lead and played guitar for Bill Monroe from 1964 to 1967, co-founded Old and in the Way with Jerry Garcia and David Grisman in 1973, and wrote Panama Red and Midnight Moonlight. He has one Grammy and six nominations. The IBMA put him in its hall of fame in 2022.
Why Rowan matters
Rowan carried Monroe’s rhythm guitar and high tenor singing out of the Blue Grass Boys and into rock, folk, and jam band audiences. Old and in the Way sold more copies than any bluegrass record before it, and songs from that band are still called at jams every week. If you have sung Midnight Moonlight or Panama Red around a campfire, Rowan wrote it and set the guitar part.
Life and career
Rowan was born on July 4, 1942, in Boston, Massachusetts, and grew up in Wayland. He learned guitar from an uncle and heard the Lilly Brothers and Tex Logan play bluegrass in Boston in the 1950s. He formed a rockabilly band called the Cupids in 1956 and later led the Bonney Hill Boys, a bluegrass band in northern New York.
Bill Monroe hired Rowan in 1964 as rhythm guitarist, lead singer, and songwriter. He recorded fourteen songs with Monroe across five sessions, starting on October 14, 1966. The two co-wrote Walls of Time. Rowan left in the spring of 1967 and formed Earth Opera with David Grisman, a rock band that made two albums for Elektra. In 1969 he joined Seatrain with fiddler Richard Greene and recorded two albums for Capitol.
In 1973 Rowan returned to acoustic music. He co-founded Muleskinner with Greene, Grisman, Bill Keith, and Clarence White, which made one album for Warner Brothers. That same year he co-founded Old and in the Way with Grisman, Jerry Garcia, John Kahn, and later Vassar Clements. The band’s self-titled live album came out in 1975 and became the best-selling bluegrass record of its time. Rowan wrote Panama Red in 1973, and the New Riders of the Purple Sage made it a hit. After Old and in the Way broke up in 1974 he spent three years in the Rowans with his brothers Chris and Lorin.
Rowan’s solo records include Peter Rowan in 1978, Walls of Time in 1982, New Moon Rising in 1988, and Bluegrass Boy in 1996. He sang on True Life Blues: The Songs of Bill Monroe, which won the Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album and the IBMA Album of the Year award in 1997. He recorded Quartet with Tony Rice in 2007 and Carter Stanley’s Eyes for Rebel in 2018. His 2022 album Calling You from My Mountain on Rebel featured Billy Strings and Molly Tuttle and earned a Grammy nomination. He lives in California and still tours.
Playing style
Rowan is a rhythm guitarist in the Monroe mold. His job with the Blue Grass Boys was to hold the beat under Monroe’s mandolin, and that is still what he does: strong bass notes, a firm strum, and a pulse that leaves room for a singer. He plays guitar, mandolin, fiddle, banjo, dobro, and piano, but on stage the guitar stays a support instrument for his voice.
That voice is the recognizable thing. He has a wide range with a tenor that reaches into yodeling, and Monroe said Rowan sounded like himself. His songs use plain chord changes, which is one reason so many of them work at jams.
Influences and legacy
Rowan learned from Bill Monroe on the bandstand and from the Boston players Tex Logan and the Lilly Brothers before that. He played beside David Grisman, Richard Greene, Jerry Garcia, Clarence White, Vassar Clements, and Tony Rice. He co-wrote with Monroe and wrote for the New Riders of the Purple Sage. Charles Sawtelle of Hot Rize worked with him in the 1990s. BMI lists 343 of his compositions.
Signature tunes and songs
Midnight Moonlight Panama Red Walls of Time Lonesome L.A. Cowboy.
Essential recordings
Old & In the Way, Old and in the Way (1975) Muleskinner, Muleskinner (Warner Brothers, 1973) Peter Rowan (1978) Bluegrass Boy (1996) Calling You from My Mountain (Rebel, 2022)
Awards and honors
Grammy nomination, New Moon Rising (1988) Grammy Award, Best Bluegrass Album, True Life Blues: The Songs of Bill Monroe (1997) IBMA Album of the Year, True Life Blues: The Songs of Bill Monroe (1997) IBMA Collaborative Recording of the Year, True Life Blues: The Songs of Bill Monroe (1997) Bluegrass Star Award, Bluegrass Heritage Foundation (2012) IBMA Collaborative Recording of the Year, Southern Flavor, with Becky Buller, Buddy Spicher, and others (2015) IBMA Liner Notes of the Year, Carter Stanley’s Eyes (2018) International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame (2022) Grammy nomination, Calling You from My Mountain (2022)
Watch and listen
Rowan plays Midnight Moonlight solo at Fur Peace Ranch. Watch his right hand hold a steady rhythm under the vocal.
The Peter Rowan Tony Rice Quartet plays Midnight Moonlight in 2005. Listen to Rowan’s rhythm under Rice’s lead.
What to learn from Rowan
Learn Midnight Moonlight. It is a jam standard with a two-part form and a long instrumental section, so every player gets a turn. The technique to steal is his rhythm guitar under a singer. Play the bass note on the downbeat, keep the strum light, and do not fill every gap. Rowan learned that job from Bill Monroe, and it is the reason his songs work with any band.
Sources
Peter Hamilton Rowan, Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and Museum Peter Rowan, IBMA award recipients Biography, Peter Rowan Music Artist of the Month: Peter Rowan, The Bluegrass Situation Peter Rowan, Wikipedia Peter Rowan discography, Wikipedia
Related players
See the guitar players hub and the guitar guide for more bluegrass guitarists. Rowan played beside Clarence White in Muleskinner and recorded with Tony Rice. Charles Sawtelle worked with him after Hot Rize, and Billy Strings and Molly Tuttle sang on his 2022 album.