Today we’d like to introduce you to Johnny McGowan.
Hi Johnny, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
My name is Johnny McGowan. I was born y raised in Knoxville Tx. I come from a logging family who lived in the Smoky Mountains. During the depression, they moved to Pigeon Forge and then on into the coal burning furnaces of Knoxville.
Growing up in my grandmother’s basement in an area of Knoxville called Marble City, I used to put on ‘concerts’ for the neighborhood kids by playing Johnny Cash records and acting like I was strumming this old Stella acoustic guitar.
When I was just five years old I took up banjo after watching a local bluegrass artist named Wade Hill play at Buddy’s Barbecue. That instrument didn’t take.
When I became a teen, my mom remarried and my step dad was great. He played guitar and allowed me to play his 1962 Gibson acoustic. When it was time for chores, and I was practicing, he would allow me to play longer. It was a great way to get out of mowing the lawn. Ha!
The Knoxville music scene was really happening during the 80s. Lots of roots music, bluegrass, blues, jazz and a really hip college rock scene too. I took up playing local gigs around town. Some good, some not so good.
I played a place called Gryphon’s Ghetto Guild. It was a bar, laundromat, and pool hall. Me and some music pals one Thursday just showed up, set up our amps on beer crates, plugged in a pa and started jamming. The manager thought we were booked and gave us beers so we kept showing up. It was a great place to start out.
Fast forward, I moved to Atlanta Ga., played around there, had many bands, played lots of gigs, even toured the US some. Things stagnated. I felt nobody wanted to achieve excellence like I did. I had an offer of place to live so I moved to Texas and I ain’t looked back. I love it here in Austin. Best place in the world for me.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Being a musician is a hard road to travel. Perhaps that’s reason you see 20 year olds traveling and touring, and then they peter out. Perhaps It’s because the music wasn’t really in their blood, they didn’t feel it in their bones. It wasn’t a hunger that couldn’t be satiated. An itch that can’t be scratched.
Starting out in Knoxville, after a few years things weren’t working out for me. I was doing my best to be a band leader without any script or road map. I was booking gigs, booking players, making fliers, contacting the local music rag, you name it. For some reason it just wasn’t working. I wanted to be the best I could be and wanted others to do the same. Didn’t understand why no body was rising above the din.
One day I flipped a coin, Austin Tx or Atlanta GA. Everyone was moving to Austin to be the next big-time bluesman. Thousands of SRV clones waiting in the wings to take the throne. I had played in Atlanta some, it had a hip scene, and I knew my broken down VW Bus could make it there so I went there instead. You don’t know how many times I wished I could have just taken the lead and moved to Austin. Ya can’t go back, only forward. What is done is done.
At 27 years young I was told I was too old. Crushing blow. Then at 28 I was signed a deal with a start-up record label only to find years later the owner was a big time operator methamphetamine dealer out of Hawaii. He got arrested, my album got shelved and I was stuck in the contract I couldn’t get out.
At one point a music pal got me hired on at a commercial construction site outside of town doing clean up and sweeping in this big office building. No windows, no bathroom, 98% humidity, all day long. One day I thought there was an Earth quake, so bad I had to lay down. The whole place was shaking. Instead, later on, I found it it wasn’t an earth quacke, I was me shaking. I was having a nervous breakdown. Five years before I was recording with Paul Shaffer, being invited to play the Letterman show, only to end up working minimum wage in a crummy construction building site.
I’ve had bar owner’s cheat me out of money, ask me not to set up until last minute only to start tapping their watches angrily. I’ve had amps catch fire from bad wiring in the club. I’ve had a sit-in drummer pull a gun out. I’ve had someone spit in the tip jar, then I took off my guitar and rammed their head into the bar. It’s a crazy world out here and choosing to play music makes it even crazier.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
What I do is play live music. That’s my speciality. I can make records and recordings. But mainly I love live playing. Guitar just came easy to me when I was a teen. Perhaps it was the challenge of it. Where we lived was in an old farm house on a hill. Not in a sub-division or anything. Kinda by itself. So lots of time to practice and figure stuff out.
Rockabilly, classic country, blues, basically all roots music I was drawn to after my ‘radio’ phase. I mean I listened to top 40 radio because I didn’t know any better. My guitar teacher was a blues and country guy, Hector Quiko. He was really good and his band was great too. That got me turned on to non-radio stuff.
People ask me what I’m most proud of. Musically speaking is this current record. And that’s mostly the song writing. Although most people see me as a guitarist and singer, I am most proud of my song writing. Sometimes funny, sometimes heart felt. My muse is Jerry Reed. He was a great guitar picker, had an honest voice and wrote tons of songs.
All I want to be is honest in my music and playing. Perhaps that’s what sets me apart from others in the classic country genre. I have a tattoo on my left wrist. Got 20 plus years ago. My drummer was a tattoo artist. I came to him after my divorce and asked him to draw my eye. Tattoo that on my wrist so when I am playing my guitar, I look down and see it. “I’m watching you. You can’t lie to me,” is what it says to me.
Networking and finding a mentor can have such a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
I saw this movie a few years ago. The opening scene was the protagonist in cuffs, being escorted down a dark, dank dungeon with inmate whooping at him. The voice over effectively said, “People believe that the currency of the world is money. It’s not. It’s trust. Because without trust… what do ya got?”.
If I were to be looking for a mentor, I would ask myself ‘can I trust this person?’. Academic Jordan Peterson says, “You trust people because you are courageous.” Also be cautious too. Ask yourself what can I learn from this individual. What accomplishments have they made in the past year, 5 years, etc, that I deem worthy.
For me, I do my best to pay attention. To ask questions. Starting out, it was suggest to me by my mentor Stoney Brooks to ‘imitate the masters’. What he was saying was, if I liked a guitar player, imitate what he was doing. The licks, who he was influenced by, what guitar and amp was he playing through, what pedals, what cloths was he wearing, what did he look like on stage, was he stoic or did he jump around wildly. Good advice for a young guy starting out.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.johnnymcgowan.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnny_plays_guitar/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/johnny.mcgowan.plays.guitar
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/johnnycheole
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4dfwsKHvg1iuiPsOT0mbZ8
