Meet Jason Fowler | Musical Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jason Fowler and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jason, do you have a favorite quote or affirmation?
“The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” – Mark Twain

The world will try to take us down many paths in our lives, many look like happiness. The fact is, happiness is an inside job. Joy is found in living our purpose. It feels like home. It’s what makes us come alive. To me that is writing songs, performing, and producing music to serve as the vehicle for the message of hope and love.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I grew up with music all around. My dad is a singer, my uncles play piano, guitar, and bass. One of my earliest memories is getting together at my granny’s house and singing songs. I guess you can say it’s in my blood. I didn’t start playing guitar until I was 16 years old and started playing in bands soon after. One of our first gigs was in a skating rink. I remember thinking, “I want to do this for the rest of my life”. I grew up playing sports and even went to the Olympic Training Center for Speed Skating, but when I started playing guitar I knew it was part of my purpose. By my late teens and early twenties I was playing the Southeast with several different bands. Along the way I started getting heavier into the party scene. We played mostly college parties and ended up partying more and more. We were living the rockstar dream, you know “sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll”. I spent many years chasing a “record deal”. I thought that once I got a record deal, I would be happy. I wanted to be rich and famous. There is nothing wrong with being rich and famous, but I was looking for that to make me happy and whole.

It seemed my partying was a little more than everyone else, I got kicked of the band for drinking to much. You’ve got to be pretty bad off if you get kicked out of a Rock ‘n’ Roll band, but I did.

That was just fuel for the fire. I picked myself up and started playing in two bands. Both ended up playing bigger and bigger shows.
After many years on the Atlanta scene, one of my bands got a $250,000 record deal.

I thought I had finally “made it”, but really I was lost, broken, depressed, and addicted to drugs.

Here I am on top of the world with a new record deal, but lost and hopeless on the inside.

We spent several months in the studio at “Muscle Shoals Sound” with Producer Johnny Sandlin (Allman Brothers, Widespread Panic) working on our debut label release. Some days we would get visits from the legendary Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section also known as “The Swampers” who recorded Aretha Franklin’s “Respect” among many others. It was surreal.

We finished the album back in Georgia at “Tree Sound Studios”. Everything was good on the outside, but I was falling apart on the inside.

One day, shortly after the album was mixed and ready to be released we got a call from the record execs.

Our label had been bought out by another label and our album was not going to be released.

I was devastated…

I had put my whole life into this…above everything else, even God and my family.

It wasn’t to long after this news that the band broke up, my family broke up, and

I was broke down.

I was in full blown addiction. No matter how hard I tried to move forward, my addiction knocked me back.

I played in Atlanta a few nights a week and worked with a big video production company called Imagemil. Imagemil worked on creative productions for Usher, Whitney Houston, Goodie Mob, and the list goes on. Owner Mil Cannon had been a friend and offered me a solo record deal.

I was set to be the first musical artist on the Imagemil label. We started to work on my solo album with engineer Colin Leonard (Sing Mastering). I thought this was my second chance.

Everything went well for a while, but then it started to fall apart again. I wasn’t showing up, and when I did I was high. It got to the point that the Imagemil team had an intervention. They no longer could work with me and terminated my record deal.

It didn’t take long before I was homeless. I had lost everything…including me.

I’ll never forget the night everything changed.

It was late 2005 and I was asleep at the door of a drug dealers house. He came home and kicked me out.

It was raining, cold and I had finally reached the end of me…and that’s when i said “God whoever you are, whatever you are, Please Help Me!”

That’s when everything changed. I ended up in rehab and started the road to recovery.

I tell people it’s like a country song backwards. Instead of loosing things, I started to get things back in my life. I got a relationship with my friends, family, with myself, and with God. I got a record deal as a Christian music artist. I have three albums and several music videos directed, produced, and designed by Mil Cannon of Imagemil. I play on the biggest stages I’ve ever been on. Today I get to be a husband, dad, son, brother, and friend. We even have a homeless ministry called “Hearts Across Atlanta”. It’s so crazy how it all works. I started to realize my purpose is to use the gifts God has given me to praise Him and love others. Today music is the vehicle for the message of Hope and I get to travel the world telling others my story of Rock, Recovery, and Redemption.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I would definitely say Midtown, Ponce City Market, and Little 5 Points. Between the restaurants, people, and vibe, there is a lot to choose from. I would then take them to one of my favorite video and music production spots ImageMil and Jan Smith Studios collectively known as Mama’s Music House. They have worked with Justin Bieber, Usher, Carrie Underwood, “The Rock” and the list goes on. Seeing the process of art from concept to completion on an international level is absolutely amazing! Then we would make our way to the longest continually running recording studio in the Atlanta area Real 2 Reel Studios. We might just see members of Collective Soul and the band Kansas who have both recorded there.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Mil Cannon – (Owner at Imagemil)

Tiffany Fowler -(Wife, Co-founder of Hearts Across Atlanta)

Website: JasonFowlerMusic.com

Instagram: Instagram.com/JasonFowlerMusic

Twitter: Twitter.com/_JasonFowler

Facebook: Facebook.com/JasonFowlerMusic

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/jasonfowlermusic

Image Credits
Mil Cannon