Church At The Wagon

Fletcher Jowers | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 9, 2003)
• Original Release Date: May 9, 2003
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Pistol Hill Music
• ASIN: B00009NRWC
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #914,878 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Real Western Music, June 3, 2003

By 

Mark Holt (Idaho) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Church At The Wagon (Audio CD)

Fletcher Jowers is not only a wonderful Cowboy Singer from Texas, but Fletcher Jowers is also the "Academy of Western Artist's" Featured Artist of the Month...

Fletcher Jowers "Church at the Wagon"
reviewed by Mark Holt...

total playing time: 31:26...

Song Listing:
1) Chruch at the Wagon 2) Your Never Alone 3) Old Camp Meeting Ground 4) A Brand New Life 5) The New Range 6) John Three Sixteen 7) Ol Snake 8) A Memory of Jim 9) God Gave Us The Horse 10) Masters Call

There are voices that as soon as you hear them, they transport you to another time. Authentic, western, cowboy, ranch music are what Fletcher Jowers sounds like. He has one of those voices that is comfortable, like your favorite pair of worn, dusty boots. Fletcher reminds me of Sam Elliott ( Conager, Tombstone, "Beef it's whats for Dinner" ) and Ken Curtis ( Sons of the Pioneers, and later Festus on Gunsmoke ). Their voices are as recognizable ( and as Western ) as their faces. You hear those kinds of voices and you just know it's western ! You say to yourself, "I can relax now and enjoy. This is going to be a real western"...
"Church at the Wagon" is a cowboy gospel project. Fletcher has presented his brand of cowboy music throughout the country for several years. He has recieved several awards for his writing and recording of authentic cowboy music. "Church at the Wagon" contains nine original songs, along with Marty Robbins'.. "Masters Call"
The project's title cut is a story about a wagon cook "Coosi", who buys an old Bible from a peddler just before leaving out on the trail, bound for Abilene. He proclaims "We'll have church at the wagon".....

My personal favorites are "Ol Snake" , a story of a preacher making a deal with some cowboys that he will ride "Ol Snake", the meanest bronc on the place, in return for their church attendance. It all happens, and "Ol Snake" becomes the top horse in the string.
I also liked Fletcher's cover of Marty Robbins' "Masters Call". Marty could just plain write a song ! Fletcher does a great job with it.
The gut string guitar work on this album is really, really, well done. Tommy Allsup is the lead guitar player, and Tommy's guitar work really transports the feel of this CD "south of the Rio Grande." The mix and production on this CD is way above average. Besides Fletcher Jowers, other musicians listed are Tommy Allsup, ( lead guitar, rhythm guitar, harmony vocals ), Bobby Boatright, ( fiddle ), Donny Catron, ( rhythm guitar, harmony vocals ), Mark Abbot, ( bass fiddle, harmony vocals ), Mark Petty ( engineer ). It was recorded at ASC Recording, Dallas, Texas.
Fletcher Jowers and the group of backup musicians on this album just set a tone and feel for these songs, that make this album a nice, subtle, cowboy gospel listen....

5.0 out of 5 stars Country Music People Review, July 15, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Church At The Wagon (Audio CD)

COUNTRY MUSIC PEOPLE MAGAZINE - Hugh T. Wilson

Fletcher Jowers is an ex-Texas cowboy who took to writing songs of the Old West and for several years has been performing at many venues in the States. His easy-to-listen-to style and vocals describe clearly what life was like on the range.

All good songs need good musical accompaniment and Jowers certainly has that here. Bobby Boatright plays gentle and plaintive fiddle throughout while Tommy Allsup, who was Buddy Holly's guitarist at the time of Holly's death, plays lead guitar and also produced the album. Donny Catron, lead singer with the Tennessee Gentlemen, plays rhythm guitar while Mark Abbott adds some pretty tight bass fiddle to complete things. The latter three also produce nice harmonies to compliment Jowers' vocals.

The material is all of a gospel nature. The first nine songs are self-penned but, to close the set, Jowers sings Marty Robbins' classic, The Master's Call, which deally suits the album's theme. All are story songs and the title song, Church At The Wagon, has the hallmarks of a classic. It relates the tale of a cook who, before leaving on a trail drive to Abilene, buys an old bible from a peddler so that he can have a prayer meeting at the wagon every Sunday.

The tales are hugely enjoyable. Ol Snake is the story of a parson who makes a deal with cowboys that he will ride "the meanest bronc here on this place" if they will attend church. John Three Sixteen takes the quote of "For God so loved the world that He gave His only son," and uses it to relate the sad tale of Little Jake, who dies after his horse falls while chasing mavericks.
A Memory Of Jim also reminisces about the loss of an old friend.

You're Never Alone is a self-explanatory statement that God is always there for those who need help and, of course, there is a song about the cowboy's best friend in God Gave Us The Horse.

Story songs, great lyrics and simple, tuneful melodies. A great CD for those who like story songs of cowboy life similar to those performed by Red Steagall, Don Edwards and Michael Martin Murphy