Kevin Fowler-Beer, Bait & Ammo

Kevin Fowler started out in a hard rock band in 1993, and then started his own southern rock band. Kevin grew up listening to real country music, and it must have been calling him back. By 1995, he converted to country, writing and recording his first country album, One for the Road, which has been said to be an excellent crossover CD. I haven't heard it...yet.

I picked up Kevin's newest CD, Beer, Bait & Ammo, on a whim a few months ago. I put it in the changer and stopped in my tracks when the first song started. My honky tonk heart was applauding, and I thought to myself, "this guy is REAL country. I've listened to it several times, and it's a great honky tonk CD.

First of all, let me say that I was very impressed that Kevin wrote every song on this album, although he did have some help with the lyrics from Jack Jeansome on "J.O.B". He also produced this CD along with Daren Fleming. It must have been produced on his own private label, too, as I never did see a label name on the liner or the CD itself. The quality of the CD is very good.

The title track, "Beer, Bait and Ammo", is a party song with sing-along type lyrics that I haven't heard the likes of since Jack Ingram's "Barbie Doll". On the CD, the back-up vocalists are credited as "The Drunk Ass Redneck Choir". That should give you some indication of how this song relays that "Bubba's" has a little bit everything with lines like:

"And the sign says beer, bait and ammo
they got everything in between
Yeah, they got anything an old beer-drinkin' hell-raisin'
bonafide redneck needs.

They got your fishin' hooks,
They got your dirty books,
They got your rebel flag on the wall.
The sign says beer, bait and ammo
If you ask me, they got it all!"

It's a song that sounds like it came straight out of an East Texas honky tonk, and that's a good thing in my opinion!

This album is primarily honky tonk with a little swing and some waltzes thrown in. My favorites are "Speak of the Devil", "Hell Bent for a Heartache", "Beer, Bait and Ammo" and "100% Texan", the latter of which has been released as a single. It has the slow, sad honky tonk tunes, too, like "If These Old Walls Could Talk", "You Could've Had it All" and "Drinkin' Days". There's not a bad song on this CD, and you could scoot your boots to any of them. That's another plus!

A friend of mine whose not really into OKOM listened to a track or two off the CD because I wanted to get her reaction. Her comment was, "This isn't country music, this is "cowboy" music. Translation? Pure honky tonk. All I can say is I think he found his niche when he started recording true country music. Welcome home, Kevin. What took you so long?

You can visit Kevin's website at www.kevinfowler.com

Written by Lana Hughes, October 2001

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