Dowler to play police benefit concert Friday
Luke Dowler performs at BeeHive Homes last week.
Country and rock musician Luke Dowler will perform Jan. 25 at the Columbia Falls High School’s Little Theater. The concert is a benefit for the Columbia Falls Police Association and proceeds from the event go to support scholarships and the department’s annual shop with a cop program.
At 37, Dowler’s been playing music since he was 12, when he found his mom’s old guitar under her bed.
He grew up the son of a Marine and said he never lived in any one town for more than three years at a time. Dowler went to high school in Tokyo, Japan, but moved to Montana and the Flathead Valley about 19 years ago when his parents decided to retire here.
Is he fluent in Japanese?
“Only the bad words,” he joked during a telephone interview. Dowler was hanging out in a McDonald’s in Greenwich Village in New York, New York during some down time from a photo shoot.
He said he’d like to go back to Japan sometime.
“Absolutely,” he said. “I have to make amends ... I fell in love with the culture.”
When he graduated from high school he came back to the states and embraced the life of the musician.
“Have guitar, will travel,” he said.
Dowler spends about 150 days on the road. He’s cut seven albums and a handful of singles and is working on a new single now. He said he grew up listening to big band tunes, but loves all sorts of music, including punk rock, folk, country and Jazz.
He said he admires the guitar work of Jimi Hedrix and Eric Clapton and the songwriting of Bob Dylan and John Mayer.
His Columbia Falls family-friendly show will feature a mix of country and rock, with help from some of his musician friends on vocals and even the violin.
Despite all the travel in his life, Dowler said Montana is always home and rejects the notion that a creative person can’t succeed here.
“There’s a lot of hidden creative talent (in Montana). That’s something we should be tapping into a resource,” he said. “I’m looking forward to that.”
The show has a pre-concert reception where folks can meet police officers and have a beverage and refreshments. The show starts at 7 p.m. Tickets are $28 with kids under 15 free with an adult. Call 885-1065 to order tickets. Group discounts are available. They’ll also be available at the door, same price as advanced.