Sonny Lowe - master blues harp player June 26, 2009

Sonny Lowe has been a mainstay in the Northbay blues scene for over 25 years. With his own band, Sonny and the Blenders, he has played extensively within a 100 mi. radius of his home in Santa Rosa and now, following major events like the growth of his children, he is preparing to launch another voyage into the unknown of a working Blues band. This time under the name of simply, The Sonny Lowe Band, and the release of this highly acclaimed CD, 100 PROOF, Sonny claims to be ready, willing AND able to take on the road. Directly quoted, Sonny states "I didn't grow all this time and lose all this hair so I could sit in a rocking chair. I've planned on playing my music well into my golden years and that is exactly what I'm going to do. I've alway loved travel, new faces, and the road is calling me back."

Sonny comes from a long and diverse musical background which began and was nurtured in his family home in Los Altos , Ca. The youngest of three boys and a child of hard partying post WWII parents, the Lowe household was always the center for spontaneous and often raucous parties made up of people who came to drink, dance and discuss the higher order of human existance. Teens to elders gathered in an environment of free and open exchange; enhanced by open and often free bottles of beer, wine or liquor. Aside from the infrequent eruption of substance enhanced and emotionally charged hysteria, it was actually a very broadening and inspirational environment. Especially for someone, like Sonny, who had a developing flare for the performing arts, though he perhaps had no awareness of it at the time.

As a child and young adult, Sonny gained international notoriety as a world class high jumper. From age 15 through 19 he held nearly every age group record including National high school and junior college with an eventual personal best of 7"2". In early 1966 Sonny was a predicted pick to be on the 1968 Olympic team and "the highest jumping white man in the US", according to Track and Field Magazine (which coincidentally was published in his hometown of Los Altos, California). At that time, he was using his given name of Max Lowe and not until he began his musical pursuits, did he begin using his nickname, Sonny.

As a child of a bohemian upbringing and surrounded by diverse musical influences, Sonny had always been particularly fond of the sound of saxaphones and harmonicas. At age 23, following a full athletic scholarship to USC and an injury that curtailed his aspirations for the world high jump record, Sonny found himself asking "what now?" and in response to that question went out and bought his very first harmonica. And even though he has been required to earn a living by employment in a vast range of fields from auto mechanic to counselor for severely emotionally disturbed teens, his true passion has unceasingly been his music. And, though life's demands have caused interruptions and periodic priority shifts, Sonny has persevered and always managed to keep himself tied to the musical community of the area in which he resides. Now, at 61 years old, Sonny envisions retirement as a place to fulfill his earlier dreams;" get out to sing and play my harp. I've spent more time and energy perfecting those skills than any other I have, so now is the time to see if anyone still enjoys hearing what I can do."

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