Rockabilly Hall of Famer Chuck Cowan returns to Emporia

Courtesy of Rockabilly Hall of Fame

Prolific musician Chuck Cowan will be peforming at Wheat State Grille on Friday.

Singer, songwriter and composer Chuck Cowan has made a career out of his music. For over forty years, Cowan has played in a number of bands, scored film soundtracks and made countless records in his musical career.

“I’m a mercenary musician,” Cowan said. “I’d just play anything I can to make a living. Some of it I really didn’t like so I got out of it.”

Some of Cowan’s first recordings were done here in Emporia.

“It was kind of an accident,” Cowan said. “I did a record back in 1959 at KVOE, used to be KTSW back then, for Mrs. Hopkins, of Hopkins tool company. They used to own a record company back then. She put out my first records and I had a big hit back in those days.”

The Rockabilly Hall of Fame recently honored Cowan for his contribution to the genre.

“It was pretty neat,” Cowan said. “A friend of mine from Baton Rouge called me up and said ‘Did you know you were in the Rockabilly Hall of Fame?’ I told him I never even heard of it. Actually, [the Rockabilly Hall of Fame] thought I was dead. Most of the guys in it are gone, but they found out I wasn’t so they sent me a nice certificate.”

Because of his large and diverse resume, the award came as a complete surprise to Cowan.

“It feels good,” Cowan said. “It surprised me, because I never thought I’d be known as a rockabilly guy. It was so long ago that I did that stuff.”

Although he now lives near Fort Scott, Cowan still sees Emporia as his hometown. On Friday, he will be returning to Emporia to promote his new album.

“Its called ‘Dragging The Gut,’” Cowan said. “That’s what we used to call driving up and down Commercial Street back when I was in high school.”

According to Cowan, his latest record recounts tales of his youth over a mix of rockabilly and country tunes.

“Its just a bunch of nostalgia for me,” Cowan said. “My sister wrote an editorial that’s in the Gazette and its going to be in the jacket of the CD. It tells what we did back in the 50’s.”

Cowan has been a musician basically his whole life, largely due to the encouragement of his mother.

“I started singing before I was two years old,” Cowan said. “My mother had me singing all the time and playing the piano when I was a kid.”

Growing up in and around Emporia, Cowan continued to hone his craft and started a band called The Chessman.

“I started playing the guitar when I was 12 and played all through high school,” Cowan said. “Then after a year at Emporia State, I got the chance to play [the country club] Rock Away Beach, which is down by Branson. I played down their through the summer. Then an agent heard me in Kansas City and he had me put a band together and booked us all over the east coast and everywhere you think of.”

Cowan went on to play shows all over the country and abroad. Later in his career, Cowan got the opportunity to play with the prolific composer Les Baxter, who did soundtracks for dozens of movies and worked with artists like Nat King Cole and Mel Tormé.

Through Baxter, Cowan scored a few movies himself including ‘Hells Belles’ and ‘Blood Sabbath.’

“He saw what I had to offer,” Cowan said. “So he used me in two movies and he gave me one for another outfit.”

With all his experience, Cowan has a simple bit of advice for young musicians wanting to get in the business.

“Stay out,” Cowan said. “Just kidding. Anything you do you have to love it, sometimes you get rich but most the time you don’t so if you can make a living and be happy at it. That’s all the advice I can give you.”

Chuck Cowan is scheduled to perform at 9 p.m. at Wheat State Grille, 707 Commercial, on Friday.