John Fowler

John has over 30 years of national performing experience conducting programs at festivals, schools, college’s, and camps. He is a regional favorite at the Stories for Life Festival, Stone Soup Storytelling Festival, Starburst Storytelling Festival, Hagood Mill Storytelling Festival, and Augusta Bakers Dozens Festival as well as many others.

John has produced several grant-supported research projects featuring a number of distinctive recordings of traditional/roots & ethnic musicians and storytellers: Textile Town (92) features a rare collection of interviews with local textile operatives fromSpartanburg County; Fiddler Traditions features rare field recordings and claimed national appeal in 2004; Story, Song and Image tours the state as an interactive exhibit which features roots music from the mountains-to-the-sea.

John has several other recordings projects to his credit and has written for the Hub City Writers Project. In 1994 he self-published an instructional book on how to play simple hand-held folk instruments. John is also featured in the book Southern Appalachian Storytellers (McFarland) by Saundra Kelly.

He is a graduate of the Institute for Community Scholars, Folklore & Music Studies at Swannanoa College and has an Associate in Civil Engineering at Spartanburg College. He is a member of the South Carolina Storytelling Network and founding member of the Carolina Old Time Music Network. Currently he is serving as the State Scholar with SC Humanities’s touring exhibit New Harmonies. John also co-produces a very popular old-time music show, “This Old Porch” on N.C. Public radio WNCW 88.7 FM.