Wayland, MA · bluegrass

Peter Rowan

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Bill Monroe's former lead singer, still carrying first-generation bluegrass into its eighth decade.

Peter Rowan was born in Massachusetts in 1942 and joined Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys in the mid-1960s as guitarist and lead singer, an apprenticeship that placed him directly in the first generation of bluegrass. He left to co-found Earth Opera with David Grisman and later played in Seatrain, moving between bluegrass, rock and folk rather than settling in one camp.

In the early 1970s he was part of Old & In the Way alongside Jerry Garcia, Grisman and Vassar Clements, a short-lived group whose live recording introduced bluegrass to a large rock audience. Rowan wrote several songs that have become standards in the repertoire, including "Panama Red" and "Midnight Moonlight," and has continued to record and tour as a bandleader.

bluegrass