John Howie Jr. stopped by Live & Local last week, ahead of the April 18 release of his band’s third album “The Return Of…John Howie Jr. and the Rosewood Bluff” – their first full-length release in 11 years.
“Return” may be the band’s first album in over a decade (and Howie’s first of any kind since 2018’s solo LP “Not Tonight”) – but the Rosewood Bluff has been present and active all along, with its throwback honky-tonk style anchored by Howie’s trademark deep baritone voice. It’s a sound that’s both retro and timeless – a good thing, because the album’s been in the works for a while.
“We started making a version of this new album in 2019…and then the pandemic hit, and that changed everything,” Howie says. “I ended up writing all these other songs and going, ‘well, maybe this song will be better, or maybe we should rearrange that song.’ So there’s actually a whole other version of this album, with different songs, different takes, different recordings…I guess (it) would make a pretty good bootleg.”
2025 is a big year for Howie not only because of the album release: it’s also the 30th anniversary of the formation of his previous band, the Two Dollar Pistols – which was a big departure at the time for Howie, who’d been known hitherto as more of a punk rocker.
“I heard George Jones all the time growing up,” Howie says of the band’s origins. “My dad loved all that stuff – Charlie Pride, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings – but hearing George Jones as an adult, (it) was like hearing the Sex Pistols when I was 13, or Otis Redding when I was 18. There are these key moments that sort of – it’s just this amazing feeling where you’re just like, ‘this music is taking me to a certain place…’
“And I’d been a touring musician for years at that point, playing drums, but that was the key moment where I thought, ‘rather than go find a band to play drums with, you might as well just go ahead and make the leap,’ you know? And I’ve never really looked back.”
In the three decades since, Howie, the Pistols, and the Rosewood Bluff all became seminal figures in the local music scene – and beyond, with songs featured on TV shows and films from “Jeepers Creepers” to “SEAL Team” to “Orange Is the New Black.”
But not every show: “A woman (who’d) placed songs on The Walking Dead approached me,” he laughs, “and I sent her my album and she was like, ‘I think these songs may just be too depressing.’ That’s the gravestone I want! ‘Here lies John Howie, Jr. His songs were too depressing for The Walking Dead.’”
“Return” officially drops on April 18 – and the Rosewood Bluff will celebrate that evening with an album-release show at Cats Cradle Back Room, with Severed Fingers and David Prather opening.
Visit CatsCradle.com to buy tickets.
John Howie Jr. stopped by Live & Local to chat about the album and play three tracks: “Who Needs The Neon,” “The Only Problem I Really Have Is You,” and “Never Enough.” Listen:
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
Comments on Chapelboro are moderated according to our Community Guidelines