Rebel Records is proud to announce a new album from pioneering American roots musician Peter Rowan. Rowan’s second album for Rebel, Calling You From My Mountain features star turns from Shawn Camp, Billy Strings, Molly Tuttle, Lindsay Lou, and more, and original and traditional songs from Rowan and his band. Today, Rebel is releasing the first single off the new album, “The Song That Made Hank Williams Dance” featuring Shawn Camp. Rowan had this to say about the single, “This chorus appeared to me in a dream one glorious April at my tin-roofed Texas casita. Singer, songwriter, guitar picker Shawn Camp hails from Alabama as did Hank Williams. Shawn, he’s a natural for this song. And a big inspiration! We had some fun!”
“Peter Rowan is a true roots original,” says Mark Freeman, Rebel Records’ owner. “While his musical curiosity has taken him on many fun and fascinating adventures across many different genres, bluegrass is the foundation and starting point for those trips. Building on the momentum of his previous bluegrass release, Carter Stanley’s Eyes, we at Rebel are thrilled to be working with Peter again as he delivers another collection of powerful material, both new and old!”
For over six decades, GRAMMY-award winning artist Peter Rowan has been at the forefront of acoustic American music, inspiring generations of new musicians and working creatively with the roots of bluegrass, newgrass, Americana, country rock, jazz, even reggae, Hawaiian, and Tejano music. A relentlessly curious, brilliant songwriter, Rowan’s had the kind of career that would give him ample opportunity to kick back and rest on his laurels now, but his new album, Calling You From My Mountain (coming June 24 on Rebel Records), shows that Rowan’s voice is as vital as ever, fueled by the history of our great traditions and excited for their future. Guest spots on the album from friends like Billy Strings, Shawn Camp, Molly Tuttle, Lindsay Lou, and Mark Howard, not to mention Rowan’s multi-generational band, show that Rowan’s inspiration transcends age. For these past sixty+ years, Rowan’s been a musical sponge, soaking up ideas and influences from his many travels and his roving search for new traditions, using these sounds to create new songs and new musical genres at will. Though the genesis for Rowan’s new album came from Hank Williams’ Luke the Drifter personality and Rowan’s idea of writing new songs for this character, he quickly spun in other connections, like his longtime interest in Tibetan music and his Buddhist beliefs and practices, or his love of other American roots legends like Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Guy Clark, Bill Monroe, and Tex Logan (all of whom Rowan’s played and performed with). Throughout, the music sounds like Rowan himself, a modern day California dharma bum, a man as nourished by a metaphysical interest in the mysteries of the physical universe as he is by the intricacies of handcrafted music making.
