Biography
The Rowans emerged as a progressive bluegrass ensemble built around the vocal harmonies of brothers Peter, Lorin, and Chris Rowan. Peter concentrated on guitar and nearly every instrument in the mandolin family, Lorin handled guitar, and Chris contributed guitar plus flute. The three siblings spent their formative years in the Massachusetts community of Weyland outside Boston, where they first performed a mix of rock and bluegrass material. Peter’s early career included appearances with various New England folk ensembles, a period alongside Bill Monroe, and a late-1960s to early-1970s collaboration with mandolin specialist David Grisman inside the folk-rock band Earth Opera. During the same early-1970s window, Lorin and Chris operated as the Rowan Brothers, a folk/pop/country-rock duo. With Grisman joining them, the pair relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area and obtained a CBS contract, aided by an endorsement from Grisman’s former associate Jerry Garcia. Their debut album, issued in 1972 under the title The Rowan Brothers, was produced by Grisman using the alias David Diadem; the group also opened shows for the Grateful Dead. When Peter became available between projects in 1975, he joined his siblings, prompting the act to adopt the name the Rowans. Their first collective album appeared on Asylum that year and drew strong praise for its forward-looking, occasionally jazzy character and longer compositions. The 1976 follow-up Sibling Rivalry received comparable acclaim, yet most observers concluded that Jubilations in 1977 ended the trio’s strongest creative phase. After departing Asylum, they released two further albums on the independent Appaloosa label in 1980 and subsequently disbanded to pursue separate work. Periodic reunions for live performances took place, especially in the late 1980s, and in 1994 the siblings recorded Tree on a Hill for Sugar Hill under the billing Peter Rowan & the Rowan Brothers.
Albums
