Kevin Bowe is a songwriter, record producer and musician from Minneapolis. He is most well known for his work with prominent rock and blues artists including Paul Westerberg and the Replacements, writing songs for hit albums by Jonny Lang and Kenny Wayne Shepherd, as well as Etta James' Grammy-winning Let's Roll. He has contributed to dozens of albums over his career, including several of his own as a bandleader, and has appeared on many film and television soundtracks including ESPN and The Sopranos. His songs have been covered by many prominent rock and blues artists, including Joe Cocker, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Robben Ford, and John Mayall.
Career
After growing up in rural Minnesota, Bowe became part of the burgeoning rock scene in early 1980s Minneapolis that spawned Hüsker Dü and The Replacements, fronting alternative rock and Americana bands including The Dads, Summer of Love and The Revelators. His career began to launch when his Revelators song "Riverside" was covered by Kenny Wayne Shepherd on his platinum-selling album Ledbetter Heights, which led to a songwriting contract with rock legends Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller in 1997. Bowe discovered blues guitarist Jonny Lang, then still a teenager, at a blues jam in Fargo, North Dakota, and contributed songs for Lang's breakthrough hit albums Lie To Me in 1997 and the Grammy-nominated Wander This World in 1998. The following year, Bowe began to move into producing with the debut from another teenage blues guitarist, Shannon Curfman's Loud Guitars, Big Suspicions. Bowe's most famous work has been as a songwriter for other artists. He co-wrote four songs on Etta James’ 2003 Grammy-winning album Let's Roll, including "The Blues Is My Business," which was later covered by E Street Band guitarist Little Steven Van Zandt on his solo record Soulfire. Other notable songs include "Sault Ste. Marie", covered by Three Dog Night, and Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Dead Man Walkin'" on the 2003 album Vicious Cycle. Bowe has a longstanding friendship and working relationship with Replacements frontman Paul Westerberg, having begun as contemporaries starting out in the Minneapolis music scene. He played guitar in Westerberg's solo touring band His Only Friends in the early 2000s, and joined the Replacements in 2012 to record the six-song EP Songs for Slim. Besides Westerberg, Bowe has also frequently been a touring or live backing musician for Freedy Johnston and the Jayhawks' Gary Louris. Bowe has also produced records by several notable Minneapolis bands, including indie-folk band Communist Daughter's 2016 album, The Cracks That Built the Wall and punk group Suicide Commandos' comeback album Time Bomb.
As primary performer
Bowe has released five albums with his roots-rock band the Okemah Prophets, most recently Every Part of the Buffalo. 2012's Natchez Trace included a song co-written with Westerberg, "Everybody Lies," and guest performances by Westerberg, the Meat Puppets, Wilco guitarist Nels Cline, Communist Daughter's Johnny Solomon and Molly Moore, Jayhawks drummer Tim O'Reagan, Freedy Johnston, Chuck Prophet, Phil Solem of the Rembrandts, and Bob Dylan violinist Scarlet RiveraThe band has received critical praise for Bowe's songwriting, which No Depression magazine called "criminally catchy."
Personal life
Bowe also teaches music and audio production at Minneapolis' Institute of Production & Recording. His wife, Ruth Whitney Bowe, founded Minneapolis nightclub Fine Line Music Cafe in 1987 and owned it until 1990. She would later be asked by Prince to help him open another club in downtown Minneapolis, Glam Slam.
