Lance Cowan

For the past 30 years, Lance 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, Nanci Griffith, Guy Clark 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.

His first collection of songs, So Far So Good - set for worldwide release on February 23 via Lantzapalooza Müzik (CPI/The Orchard) - is already drawing praise. The first single, “This Heart of Mine” will be released January 19th.

“Lance Cowan's songs are populated with compelling characters and fetching melodies,” wrote Associate Press Critic Steve Wine. “His warm tenor makes the stories ring true as he sings about junk, the beauty of freedom, the tug of home and the road, and synthetics in waltz time. He has a terrific train song too.”

Musician / Producer / Songwriter Pat Flynn observed “Of course, writing good songs puts one in a fairly exclusive group – but actually creating a distinctive voice, form and style is to ascend into rarified air. Lance Cowan has achieved a very distinctive style, warm and engaging, but most importantly, recognizable. Lance continues to make a significant contribution to songwriting, not just as a form of expression, but as creative art at the highest level.”

Acclaimed Bluegrass Artist Irene Kelley said “I absolutely love your record. Your writing is really great. I could see Pure Prairie League or Poco covering these. So many stand out lines. Wow!”

Like so many, Cowan came to Nashville planning to make a living in the music business. His foot in the door at a leading music pr firm, Network Ink, led to work with the likes of New Grass Revival (Sam Bush, Pat Flynn, John Cowan & Bela Fleck), Charlie Daniels, Nanci Griffith, Reba McEntire and many more. It wasn’t long before he moved to powerhouse Vector Management, which represented Griffith, New Grass Revival, Steve Wariner, Ely, Lyle Lovett and more.

“My song publisher probably expected me to pitch songs to our clients,” Cowan laughs. “But I’ve always kept my PR work separate from my songwriting, for better or worse. I like to think it’s an integrity thing.”

Cowan continued playing his songs at listening rooms like famed The Bluebird Cafe. “The first time I went to The Bluebird, it was pouring rain,” Cowan recalls. “As I was leaving, John Prine jumped out of his car and stood under the awning smoking a cigarette and talking with me for 15 or 20 minutes. He encouraged me. It was pretty amazing, and I started hanging out there whenever I could, soaking in the work of writers like Don Schlitz, Jesse Winchester, Thom Schuyler and so many more.”

It was there he met Janis Ian (‘At Seventeen’), who, after hearing his “Fields of Freedom,” asked him to co-write. “She was remarkably generous,” Cowan says. “The song we wrote, ‘When He Was Here,’ was put on hold by Joan Baez for one of her records. Though ultimately she didn’t record the song, she toured with it for more than a year and a half. That was pretty wonderful.”

Cowan began writing with another of his heroes, David Mallett (‘The Garden Song,’ ‘Red Red Rose’), who covered their songs on several of his releases.

For So Far So Good, Cowan assembled some of the finest musicians in the world, including Dan Dugmore (Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor), Sam Bush, Pat Flynn (New Grass Revival), Dave Pomeroy (Don Williams), Andrea Zonn (James Taylor), Keith Sewell (The Chicks), Robert Reynolds (The Mavericks), among others.