VIDEO & Audio
Stephen Foster's professional music background goes back to 1969 in Muscle Shoals, AL, where
he grew up. The list of musicians he's worked with in studio or onstage is a veritable
who's who of American music. His music education however, started much earlier,
in the 50s, when radio consisted of stations like WLS and WSM at night, and the
playlist was as varied as imaginable. Jazz, Blues, Country,
Texas Swing, Pop and earlyR&B all played side-by-side.
His father, a stride jazz pianist, and his mother, a contralto jazz
torch singer, insisted on a music education for their children.
Piano lessons started at age 5, and the home was filled with music
of all styles, but the records most played by his father were big
band swing, Chet Atkins, and Pete Fountain. These influences led to the
style Stephen displays to this day, stylish grooves and powerful
choruses, forays into the country's rich musical past, and a willingness
to let a song flow without pressing it into any genre.
Stephen picked up guitar at age 11, bass at age 13, and was playing out at
age 14 in talent contests and local shows. At 19, after a year in
college and a Summer spent in California meeting musicians, he
walked into Broadway Sound in Muscle Shoals and naively
asked for session work. Amazingly enough, he had
come on the exact day when the guitarist for
the Percy Sledge session didn't show up, and
his studio work began in earnest.
Stephen opened Howler Recording in Memphis in 1981 and ran the studio for
10 years until burnout pushed him out of the business for 7 years in the 90s.
He didn't write a song or set foot in a studio during that time. He concentrated
on his photography, earning a Kentucky Colonel Membership for his unique
contribution to photographic styles with his "Firescapes".
A fierce indie, co-owner of IDNMusic.com (first on the net with
streaming audio), and one of the early pioneers of streaming indie
audio, Stephen was heavily involved in the internet drive to break
the major labels' stranglehold on musicians and songwriters.
SAH-LOOT
STEPHEN FOSTER
&
HOWLER
FEATURED
05/NOVEMBER\2025