Robert G. Lee Sowell (born July 8, 1947) is an American musician, pianist and composer. He spent much of his early years playing

rockabilly Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the Southern United States, South. As a genre it blends the sound of Western music (North America), Western music ...

piano in the late 1950s, playing

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

rock-and-roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm an ...

bands in the 1960s and playing piano in numerous

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

bands from the 1970s to the 1990s. He was a Mid-South Fair winner in 1966 and was inducted into the

Rockabilly Hall of Fame The Rockabilly Hall of Fame is an organization and website launched on March 21, 1997, to present early rock and roll history and information relating to the artists and personalities involved in rockabilly. Headquartered in Nashville, Tennesse ...

in 2002. In 1994, he went out as a solo artist. As a pianist and composer, Sowell has recorded eight albums, crossing many genres of music, from

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

, pop,

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from Africa ...

honky tonk A honky-tonk (also called honkatonk, honkey-tonk, or tonk) is both a bar that provides country music for the entertainment of its patrons and the style of music played in such establishments. It can also refer to the type of piano ( tack piano) ...

and

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...

and

easy listening Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to 1970s. It is related to middle-of-the-road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit songs, n ...

. The following Memphis musicians were all part of bands with Sowell from the 1960s to the 1990s: Barry Sowell (

Amazing Rhythm Aces Amazing may refer to: Music Performers * The Amazing, a Swedish indie rock band Albums * ''Amazing'' (Banaroo album), 2006 * ''Amazing'' (Elkie Brooks album), 1996 * ''Amazing'' (Marcia Hines album) or the title song, 2014 * ''Amazin'' (Tri ...

Bobby Whitlock Robert Stanley Whitlock (born March 18, 1948) is an American singer, songwriter and musician. He is best known as a member of the blues-rock band Derek and the Dominos, with Eric Clapton, in 1970–71. Whitlock's musical career began with Memph ...

(

Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is often regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s list of ...

George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician and singer-songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Indian c ...

), Bill Humble (

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...

, Tom Jones), Danny Fitzgerald (

Johnny Rodriguez Juan Raoul Davis "Johnny" Rodriguez (born December 10, 1951) is an American country music singer. He is a Tejano and Texas country music singer, infusing his music with Latin sounds, and even singing verses of songs in Spanish. In the 1970s and ...

), David Miller (

Bill Black William Patton Black Jr. (September 17, 1926 – October 21, 1965) was an American musician and bandleader who is noted as one of the pioneers of rock and roll. He played in Elvis Presley's early trio. Black later formed Bill Black's Combo. Ear ...

, U2), Eddie Slusser (

Jerry Lee Lewis Jerry Lee Lewis (September 29, 1935October 28, 2022) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Nicknamed "The Killer", he was described as "rock & roll's first great wild man". A pioneer of rock and roll and rockabilly music, Lewis made ...

Hank Williams Jr. Randall Hank Williams (born May 26, 1949), known professionally as Hank Williams Jr. or Bocephus, is an American singer-songwriter and musician. His musical style is often considered a blend of southern rock, blues, and country. He is the son of ...

), Fred Prouty (

Charlie Rich Charles Allan Rich (December 14, 1932July 25, 1995) was an American country music singer, songwriter, and musician. His eclectic style of music was often difficult to classify, encompassing the rockabilly, jazz, blues, country music, country, sou ...

), Glenn Childress (

Lonestar Lonestar (formerly known as Texassee) is an American country music group from Nashville, Tennessee. The group consists of Drew Womack (lead vocals, acoustic guitar), Michael Britt (lead guitar, background vocals), Dean Sams (keyboards, acousti ...

), Jack Holder (

Black Oak Arkansas Black Oak Arkansas is an American Southern rock band named after the band's hometown of Black Oak, Arkansas. The band reached the height of its fame in the 1970charting ten albums according to Encyclopedia of Arkansas. Their style is punctuated ...

), Jim Gammell (

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), Robert Johnson (

The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically d ...

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), Ronnie Scaife (

Neil Diamond Neil Leslie Diamond (born January 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. He has sold more than 130 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling musicians of all time. He has had ten No. 1 singles on the Hot 100 and Adul ...

), and

Roy Yeager Roy Yeager (born February 4, 1949) is an American musician and record producer. His musical career started off when he moved to Memphis, Tennessee at the age of 14. Yeager met Bobby Sowell in high school in 1964 and soon they were playing gig ...

( Crackerjacks, Lobo,

Atlanta Rhythm Section Atlanta Rhythm Section (or ARS) is an American Southern rock band formed in 1970 by Rodney Justo (singer), Barry Bailey (guitar), Paul Goddard (bass), Dean Daughtry (keyboards), Robert Nix (drums) and J. R. Cobb (guitar). The band's current l ...

Ronnie Milsap Ronnie Lee Milsap (born Ronald Lee Millsaps; January 16, 1943) is an American country music singer and pianist. He was one of country music's most popular and influential performers of the 1970s and 1980s. Nearly completely blind from birth, ...

Biography

Sowell was born in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

, and was named after a famous

Southern Baptist The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is a Christian denomination based in the United States. It is the world's largest Baptist denomination, and the largest Protestant and second-largest Christian denomination in the United States. The word ...

preacher, Dr. Robert G. Lee. When Sowell was drafted during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

, he dropped the initial and became Robert Lee Sowell. In music, his stage name has always been Bobby or Bobby Lee. Growing up in Memphis, Sowell had diverse musical influences. Early influences included

Hank Williams Hank Williams (born Hiram Williams; September 17, 1923 – January 1, 1953) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician. Regarded as one of the most significant and influential American singers and songwriters of the 20th century, he reco ...

Carl Perkins Carl Lee Perkins (April 9, 1932 – January 19, 1998)#nytimesobit, Pareles. was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. A rockabilly great and pioneer of rock and roll, he began his recording career at the Sun Studio, in Memphis, Tennes ...

and

Muddy Waters McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1913 April 30, 1983), known professionally as Muddy Waters, was an American blues singer and musician who was an important figure in the post-war blues scene, and is often cited as the "father of modern Chicago b ...

. But what really got his attention were the piano players of that day,

Fats Domino Antoine Dominique Domino Jr. (February 26, 1928 – October 24, 2017), known as Fats Domino, was an American pianist, singer and songwriter. One of the pioneers of rock and roll music, Domino sold more than 65 million records. Born in New O ...

Ray Charles Ray Charles Robinson Sr. (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential singers in history, and was often referred to by contemporaries as "The Ge ...

Roger Williams Roger Williams (21 September 1603between 27 January and 15 March 1683) was an English-born New England Puritan minister, theologian, and author who founded Providence Plantations, which became the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantation ...

and

Floyd Cramer Floyd Cramer (October 27, 1933 – December 31, 1997) was an American pianist who became famous for his use of melodic "half step" attacks. He was inducted into both the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. His signature ...

. When Sowell was 16, he met Cramer, and the experience had a lasting effect on his music. His father played harmonica and piano by ear, and his mother sang and played the guitar; she sang on the radio in

Chattanooga, Tennessee Chattanooga ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. Located along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia, it also extends into Marion County on its western end. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, ...

, in the 1940s. They used to have regular family singalongs, inviting area musicians to join in. Early rock and roll along with

, honkytonk, blues, gospel and his mother's country music had an influence on Sowell's creativity and can be heard in his music style throughout his career.

Early life

About the time Sowell was 12 years old, honkytonk and rockabilly music were thriving in Memphis, and he started playing in bars and

nightclubs A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music. Nightclubs gener ...

with much older musicians. They used to sneak him in the back door and hide him behind an upright piano where no one could see how young he was. Sowell also played a lot of sock hops. He joined his first band, the Red Notes, an

instrumental An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to instru ...

group, in 1959. His parents' house hosted many

jam sessions A jam session is a relatively informal musical event, process, or activity where musicians, typically instrumentalists, play improvised solos and vamp over tunes, drones, songs, and chord progressions. To "jam" is to improvise music without exte ...

for area musicians. Many successful professional musicians have come out of Frayser suburb of Memphis, and Sowell has picked with most of them. Around the age of 16 the

British Invasion The British Invasion was a cultural phenomenon of the mid-1960s, when rock and pop music acts from the United Kingdom and other aspects of British culture became popular in the United States and significant to the rising "counterculture" on b ...

meant Sowell had to adapt to a new kind of music, in which the organ was a more prominent instrument than the piano. Sowell played in numerous groups in the 1960s. In 1966 he won the

Mid-South Fair The Mid-South Fair is a fair that was held for many years in Memphis, Tennessee, every year in late September and early October. It is now held in neighboring northwest Mississippi. It hosts many shows and attractions, as well as different type ...

and was scheduled to appear on '' Ted Mack and the Original Amateur Hour'' on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

Television, but before he could go there, he was drafted and served in the

, and his music career was put on hold, although he played while in the military, NCO and Officers Clubs, winning talent shows. After the war and a bout with alcoholism, Sowell got back on the right track. He returned to his first love, the piano, playing and recording in an easy-listening style.

Later life

Bobby Sowell has been performing music professionally from 1959 to the present day. In 2010, he formed a new blues band, Coldwater Revival (CWR). He is actively performing solo gigs or with the band, recording new music.

Discography

*''Natural High'' (1996) *''Country Gold Tribute'' (1999) *''Falling Waters'' (2014) *''a Tendre Merci'' (2015) *''Ricky's Got The Blues'' (2015) *''Many Colors of Tennessee'' (2016) *''A Simpler Life'' (2017) *''Sleepy bubbles'' (2017) *''Keep In Touch'' (2017) *''Oh Me, Oh My'' (2017) *''Let There Be Light' (2017)

Selected reading

* ''Bobby Sowell Rockabilly Biography:'' Bob Timmers (2002) * ''The Memphis garage rock yearbook, 1960-1975'' Ron Hall (2003), * ''Memphis Blues Musicians: Amazon.com'' (2010)

References

External links

"Rockabilly Hall of Fame"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sowell, Bobby 1947 births Living people American country pianists American country rock singers American country singer-songwriters Memphis blues musicians American rockabilly musicians American blues pianists American male pianists American blues singers People from Memphis, Tennessee Singer-songwriters from Tennessee Southern Baptists 20th-century American pianists Baptists from Tennessee Country musicians from Tennessee 21st-century American pianists 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American male musicians American male singer-songwriters