Lance Cowan

So Good some 20 years ago,” Cowan says.  “Jason thought it would be fun to get the ‘gang’ back together for another project.”

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Cowan leaned on his good friend and former guitarist for the wildly influential band New Grass Revival, Pat Flynn, while Stelluto reached out to celebrated pedal steel wizard Dan Dugmore (Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor), drummer and percussionist Vinny Santoro (The Cicadas, The Highwaymen, Rodney Crowell), bassist Jay Turner (Demola Adepoju, King Sunny Ade, Joanna Cotten) and pianist / keyboardist Todd Smith (Days of the New).  Paschall reached out to Nashville’s own Chip and Billy Davis (Alabama, Dolly Parton) to lend background vocals.  Clark Hagen (Chet Atkins) flew in from Colorado to record the tracks at Music City’s famed Sound Emporium.   In just two days, 10 basic tracks were recorded before heading to Wooden Cloud Studios for final touches. 

 

“Every single player on this album is an artist in their own right,” Cowan says.  “They are not merely session players.  They are ‘ARTISTS,’ with their own wonderful solo projects. They don’t just play; they bring their creativity and ideas.   I just can’t believe they lent their immense talent to this project so unselfishly.  Every single one of them went above and beyond for these songs.  

 

“Jason and Scott wanted a cohesive, live sounding record,” he continues.  “So that’s how we recorded;  straight through with very, very few overdubs.  When you are dealing with other ‘artists’ who are having fun playing together and care about what they are playing and like the songs they are playing, well, you can’t help but get great results.”

 

Against The Grain kicks off with “Goin’ South,” a written with Maine’s iconic songwriter David Mallett.  “Will Belinda,” written with old friend John Tirro, is a tragic Western love song.  Cowan takes an unexpected rock turn with the West-coast influenced “Ragged Edge Of Nothing,” written with longtime writing partner, Terry Clayton.  Cowan’s singer-songwriter influences are evident with the title track, written with Sam Gay, before turning to their California-country flavored “One More Chance.”

 

The five remaining tracks were written solely by Cowan, including his nod to his native Kentucky and the plight of coal miners in “Old King Coal.”  He bemoans the cold weather in “I Can’t Stand The Winter,” and worries about taking on the role of parenting with “Prayer For A Child.” On “More or Less,” Cowan’s emotional vocal is backed sparsely by piano, cello, bass and modest percussion. 

 

The final track, “Love Anyway,” was inspired by growing divisions in our world, dominated by hate and violence. “Sometimes people can be so mean,” he sings before adding ‘If we ever hope for change, love anyway.”

 

“When I decided to release So Far, So Good in 2024,”  Cowan explains, “I was really just trying to put together a calling card with the hopes of finding new venues to play.  I had no idea what to expect - in fact, I was pretty nervous about what kind of response I would get.  I was sweating every time a new review showed up.”

 

Those reviews from his peers and some very tough critics were overwhelming.  “It stinks of quality,” wrote Duncan Warwick of Country Music People. “Cowan is a remarkably talented singer/songwriter who’s every bit as capable and credible as the artists he represents,” echoed Lee Zimmerman in American Songwriter. “Cowan is a superb troubadour tunesmith,” noted critic Robert K. Oermann wrote in Music Row’s DISClaimer. 

 

Richard Young of the Kentucky HeadHunters summed up the sentiment neatly saying “I have watched Lance for years help make other acts sparkle and he never muttered a word about being a singer/songwriter. You never know what is lurking in an eggshell until it opens and surprises crawl out.”

 

Those kinds of comments gave Cowan the confidence to continue his journey.  “I realized I’d been given a gift with so many wonderful songs over the years and that, by not sharing them, I was being a horrible steward of those songs,” he said. “I felt like I was doing a disservice by not making them available and giving them the chance to connect with others.”

 

On So Far, So Good, Cowan earned comparisons to some of his heroes, ranging from Jackson Browne to Dan Fogelberg to John Prine.  “That’s pretty hefty company that I really don’t feel I deserve to be in,” he laughs.  “Of course, I’ll take it.  I learned to write by listening to those guys and so many others from John Denver to Bob Dylan.  I realized a long time ago that they set the standard for what great songs are. That’s the bar I aspire to.

 

“I’m often asked what took so long to begin releasing my songs,” Cowan says. “I go back to the early 90s, when BMI put me on a showcase in Toronto for Folk Alliance with one of my songwriting heroes, Chip Taylor.

 

“I watched all the other artists at the conference who were struggling to kickstart their careers - there must have been a thousand of them pushing their homemade cds,” he laughs.  “My wife and I had two small sons at home, and I realized that to build a career as an artist, I would miss seeing them grow up.  So I re-focused on being a dad.    When we became empty nesters, I looked at these songs, wanting them  to be heard - and now having a little more disposable income - decided it was the right time to release So Far, So Good.”

 

For the cover of Against The Grain, as he did for So Far, So Good, Cowan used an old family photo, this time of his 1932-era grandmother holding his dad while his young aunts and uncle stand by.  

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In his three decade career as a music publicist, Cowan has worked behind the scenes with some of the country’s finest songwriters, including Joe Ely, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Butch Hancock, Michael Martin Murphey, RW Hampton and many more. Along the way, he has quietly honed his own songwriting skills, learning from those artists and influences Jackson Browne, Mark Heard and John Prine to name a few. 

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His works have been performed and / or recorded by such respected artists as Joan Baez, Janis Ian, David Mallett, and several independent artists.