John Cowan Biography

John Cowan is an American soul music and progressive bluegrass vocalist and bass guitar player. He was the lead vocalist and bass player for the New Grass Revival. After the breakup of New Grass Revival, Cowan released a soul record of covers, called "Soul'd Out", on the Sugar Hill Records label in 1990. Cowan appeared as a duo with Sam Bush on the PBS series, Lonesome Pine Special in 1992, and also appeared with other artists on the program.

From 1988 to 1996 Cowan teamed with Rusty Young of Poco, Bill Lloyd of Foster and Lloyd and Pat Simmons of the Doobie Brothers in a band originally called Four Wheel Drive which was later changed to The Sky Kings. Several singles were released but failed to chart well. Two albums were recorded but not released by RCA until 1997 after the group's demise as The Sky Kings, "Out of the Blue".

 

In addition, throughout the 1990s, Cowan picked up session work singing harmony vocals and/or playing bass on recordings of Travis Tritt, Steve Earle, Garth Brooks, and Wynonna. From 1996 through 1998, Cowan was the bassist and harmony vocalist in Sam Bush's touring band. The new century brought a blues record from Cowan. By 2002, his projects on Sugar Hill turned more to his "newgrass" stylings. In 2006, Cowan left Sugar Hill and went to the independent label Pinecastle. In 2008, Cowan was chosen to participate in a movie on the life of Billy Graham, titled, Billy: The Early Years. Cowan announced on his official website that he has been chosen to sing harmony and play bass as part of the backing band on the 2008 season of Nashville Star, which will air on NBC in the summer.