There are a lot of ways you can tell the story of Kevin Fowler.
You can talk about the hit songs. You can talk about the Texas Music Chart No. 1s. You can talk about the artists who have recorded his songs.
But I think one of the more interesting parts of Kevin Fowler’s story is what came before he became Kevin Fowler the Texas country artist.
He was a rocker.
Born in Amarillo, Texas, Fowler grew up listening to country music thanks to his dad, but as a teenager he also developed a serious love for rock & roll. He eventually moved to Los Angeles and attended the Guitar Institute of Technology, where he sharpened his guitar skills and began writing songs.
Eventually, he headed back to Texas and landed in Austin.
In the early 1990s, Fowler played guitar with the rock band Dangerous Toys before forming his own Southern hard-rock band, Thunderfoot. But in 1998, he made a pretty major career change.
He walked away from rock music and started putting together a band that would focus on Texas country.
That decision turned out to be a pretty important one.
Fowler and his band earned a weekly gig at Babe’s on Sixth Street in Austin. There wasn’t a major record deal waiting for them. There wasn’t some giant marketing machine pushing his music.
So Fowler did what a lot of Texas musicians have done over the years.
He built it from the ground up.
In 2000, he recorded and released his debut album, Beer, Bait & Ammo, independently. The album eventually sold more than 30,000 copies in Texas, and the title track started getting serious airplay.
Then something happened that every songwriter dreams about.
Other artists started recording his songs.
Mark Chesnutt recorded “Beer, Bait & Ammo.” Sammy Kershaw recorded it, too. Fowler also wrote songs that would become recordings for artists including Montgomery Gentry and Chesnutt.
Suddenly, the guy who had been grinding it out in Austin clubs had songs being recorded by major country artists.
And Kevin Fowler kept going.
Over the years, he released a string of albums and built a catalog filled with the kind of songs that became staples for Texas music fans. “Pound Sign (#?*!)” became his first Billboard Top 40 country hit, while songs like “Girl in a Truck,” “Here’s to Me and You,” “How Country Are Ya?” and “Before Somebody Gets Hurt” found success on the Texas Music Charts.
But here’s the thing I think sometimes gets overlooked about Kevin Fowler.
His impact on Texas music isn’t just about chart numbers.
It’s about longevity.
Fowler has spent decades doing something that is incredibly difficult in this business: staying relevant while remaining connected to the Texas music audience.
And maybe that rock & roll history has something to do with it.
There’s an edge and an attitude in Fowler’s music that makes perfect sense when you know where he came from. He took his experience as a rock guitarist and blended it with Texas country, honky-tonk and his own sense of humor.
The result was a sound—and a personality—that fit perfectly into the Texas music scene.
Kevin Fowler didn’t take the shortest road to get here.
He took the long one.
And that’s probably part of why his story resonates with so many people who have followed Texas music over the years.
From Amarillo, to Los Angeles, to Austin rock clubs, to becoming one of the most consistent names in Texas country, Fowler has earned his place in the story of this music.
And after all these years, there are still Kevin Fowler songs that can turn a quiet room into a party pretty damn quickly.
