Devon Rowe’s pleasant nature is obvious from even a brief encounter. His upbeat style, positive attitude and kind spirit are a rare find in today’s atmosphere, but he got it honestly. His father was a major pillar of support for young Devon. “As a teen I was in to heavy metal, Ozzy, Van Halen, and AC/DC. My guitar playing reflected that sound. As much as my Dad hated that music, he was the first one to be at a show to be sure we had the correct sound set up. He would be at the soundboard surrounded by Rockers and Punks. He never minded or was critical of my taste in music. I played drums in a few bands, as well, and he was always there to help set up the kits. The trade out was when I was in HIS car - we listened to country. In fact, he took me to my very first concert when I was nine years old to see The Johnny Cash with June Carter Cash and Family Tour. It was great.”
Devon’s ambitions led him to move to Nashville from Indianapolis. “I am driven to success. Period. I started my first business when I was twenty years old. I am now operating my 4th Company since 1985. I think I need a constant challenge. Being a multi-tasker, this keeps me looking for new projects on the horizon always.
Devon’s natural talent for multi-tasking made producing an obvious choice. “I'm ambidextrous, so I think that makes me a natural producer. That's what I think makes me comfortable in the producer's chair. There are a lot of plates spinning on sticks at one time, so to speak, and you gotta make sure nothing falls and gets broken. My first full-fledged production that I did was in '99 for a band in Milwaukee. And again in 2004 was when Baby Jane project was done. I wrote all the music, produced the album from top to bottom on that. That was a really cool creative process. It took most of the year, but, again, I was pretty much in total control and I brought in a lot of really talented musicians from all over the country do to that. I’m very confident in that and I guess when it's all said and done and we're put in the ground, or our ashes are scattered to the wind, or whichever you choose, I'd like my epitaph or headstone to be ‘Here lies a producer/song writer’, not so much as a performer/ singer.”
Slowly, the performer in Devon began to surface again and he started doing some of his own projects in the late 1980’s, “I still love performing live, solo, by myself. Performing the song how it was originally written. It's been a long time coming,” Devon says of his solo cd that should drop late Spring, 2009. “It seems like every time I've gotten ready to do something like this I get pulled off or hired to start producing somebody else’s project, or somebody else wants to put my songs on their project. My passion really is in producing, recording, and the whole process. I really love doing that. The underlying, passionate reason I moved to Nashville was for that. So I can be exposed to more writers and musicians to hopefully produce more. I love playing, I love being on the road, but not full time like I used to. I moved here to not travel so much.”
Devon’s creative process in the studio is unique and serves his personality well, “In the early phases of the project, I played all the instruments and did all the vocals, all the producing and all the arrangements, which kind of makes it authentically my baby. That gives it more of a personal role, passionate feeling to the music, and I bring in other artists, like guitar players, drummers, bass players, to kind of put their flavor on it. If you look at it as the point of being a chef, or a gourmet cook, it's your recipe, but you bring in the other sous-chefs to help you make it. That's something that's very cool. It lets me be real creative but, yet, I still have full control.”
Whether producing others or creating his own music, Devon Rowe sees his musical future stretching out long before him, “It is in your Blood. Not writing and playing music would be like telling a dolphin not to swim. I feel it is a gift and to see the reaction of others when you play and sing is the same feeling as when you give a child a new toy at Christmas. It is all in the sharing.”
| written by Debbie DuBois Miller
