Eddie Bowles, circa 1980 – Photo by Bill Witt
Eddie Bowles – 2025 INDUCTEE
Eddie Bowles (1884-1984) learned to play guitar in New Orleans during the birth of blues and jazz, and he was a part of that city’s vibrant music scene. However, when a search for work led him north to Cedar Falls, Iowa, he stopped playing for 30 years. When he picked up the guitar again, he continued playing in the classic fingerstyle that he had learned as a young man, performing locally for fri
ends, at festivals, and in impromptu performances. During the Blues Revival of the 1960s and 70s, he inspired a generation of local musicians. His existing recordings, all made when Bowles was in his 80s and 90s, were preserved by musicologists, radio hosts, and historians. His song “Eddie Bowles’s Blues” appears on the 2007 Grammy-award winning album, Art of Field Recording, Vol. 1. The digital album Best of Eddie Bowles was released in 2022.
You can stream the Best of Eddie Bowles for free by clicking on the album cover. An EP of additional Eddie Bowles recording is scheduled to be released in late 2025.
Jim O’Loughlin talks with IPR about Eddie on this
Talk of Iowa podcast. (about the last 15 minutes)
Eddie & Sarah Bowles
