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DAVID LOWERY Poster
DAVID LOWERY Setlist
DAVID LOWERY Tour Dates
March 9 40 Watt Club, Athens, GA
March 10 40 Watt Club, Athens, GA March 11 40 Watt Club, Athens, GA June 17 The Acorn Festival The Acorn Three Oaks, MI Read More
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“Enjoy it while you can, it don’t last long” -
David Lowery, singer-songwriter of legendary alt-rock bands Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven sings this on the first track of his most recent full-length, Vending Machine, but there’s those that would disagree, evidenced by Lowery’s over four-decade career in music.
Lowery discussed his career in music and musician rights activism, and then performed a short but intimate acoustic set as part of Lawrence Public Library’s annual 780s Series- (named after the music section of the Dewey Decimal system in libraries) a once-a-year event that celebrates a notable life in music and the stories behind their songs.
Made possible through a private donation from the Harrison Family Fund of the Douglas County Community Foundation, and in partnership with The Lawrence Public Library Foundation, the series has brought formidable talent to town in previous installments including Mavis Staples, Rakim, Jimmy Webb, Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth, and Booker T. Jones of Booker T. and the MG’s.
Brad Allen, Executive Director of Lawrence Public Library sat down with Lowery at the Lawrence Arts Center (an ideal venue) for conversation, with some audience questions, and a brief performance following. David Lowery is a mathematician, writer, musician, producer, college lecturer, and entrepreneur based mostly in Georgia.
Lowery would unknowingly become a godfather of what we now identify as indie rock while studying math and computers at UC- Santa Cruz, co-founding early band Sitting Ducks in the early 1980’s, which distinguished themselves by playing a punk, acid rock version of "fake Russian-sounding music." That band would evolve into Camper Van Beethoven and associated label, Pitch-a-Tent Records was brought to life along the way.
That band would break up, with Lowery and guitarist friend Johnny Hickman, with bassist Davey Faragher next forming Cracker, whose sound was more traditional, country-tinged roots-rock, that struck more of a mainstream chord with radio hits like 1992’s "Teen Angst (What the World Needs Now)" and 1993’s "Low".
Lowery eventually went solo and along the way co-founded a studio, created commercial tracks, produced numerous notable artists, and earned an Ed.D. from the University of Georgia in 2018, to add to his math degree.
With the rise of streaming and digital platforms of music, Lowery also found himself a music activist, involved in class-action lawsuits against the likes of Pandora and Spotify, who to this day, still only pay most artists a fraction of a cent, per-play.
Lowery also kept a keen eye on evolving technology as well, advising on the early version of Groupon and was a seed investor in music gear website Reverb.com.
In 2016 Lowery released Conquistador as a dramatic-musical work of a 1000-copy limited edition and because of this designation, all public performances, including streaming, webcasting, and radio broadcast required written permission from the author, meaning seemingly random sources like a German classical station would directly pay Lowery a one-time broadcast fee.
Lowery is still notably very much an advocate of the CD format (of which he described his signed limited run on a social post as “analog NFTs”, confusing many in the younger generation), preferring its sound, the ownership of a physical product, and because it allows more direct royalties to the artist.
While Lowery said he also enjoys the resurgence of vinyl, he mentioned the high prices, lead times, and a licensing structure, as potential barriers in allowing the re-release of his other older band releases for the moment.
Asked about major artists selling their music catalogs of late, Lowery understands the impetus to do so, and explained that the trend made his own song catalog's value multiply 3-4x as a ripple effect. Lowery explained the importance of describing a location in many of his songs, as another important paintbrush in his composing palette and how personal his latest songs are, dedicating many to his siblings and own children.
Following a short break, Lowery returned for a short eight-song acoustic set, mostly culled from his recent works, beginning with “Frozen Sea, 1963” about his childhood and his serviceman father. 2019’s “Plaza de Toros, 1967” was about witnessing bullfighting while the family lived in Spain and 2021’s "Leaving Key Member Clause” was his all-too-true story about assuming a band’s name, rights, and obligations (including all debts).
The lone older track was saved for last, one he composed as a teen that Camper Van Beethoven would perform in the mid-80s, called “(I Don't Wanna Go to the) Lincoln Shrine” about an inevitable grade school trip most classes in Redlands, CA took, to visit a local tourist attraction and museum.
“It’s timing and it’s luck” David Lowery admits on 2023’s “It Doesn’t Last Long” but while his musical career may have started out with the help of such; his surviving and thriving over the last forty years, has shown that talent, persistence, and a musical uniqueness were the true characteristics that paved his way. The 780s Series of conversation and performance proved a worthy and entertaining (did we mention free as well?) evening of showcasing the insight into an influential musician and their songs, and any future installments shouldn't be missed.
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| john c ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com |
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