Sunday afternoons at Earl’s Hideaway Lounge in any Non-Covid year means blues on the Indian River in Sebastian Inlet, Florida. On December 20, 2020 All Music Magazine headed to the beachside to cover the return of The Damon Fowler Group. Earl’s Hideaway is an open-air venue surrounded on two sides with a bamboo thicket and open on one side with the intercoastal view of the Indian River as sailboats lazily drift by. It doesn’t get more Florida than that. Mark Horan of MarkHoran.Pictures was sent to photograph and report on the show.
Damon Fowler is a Florida native born in Brandon, Florida, a city near Tampa, Florida. Damon picked up a guitar at the age of four, from some sources and started recording at around the age of 12. To date Damon has had an impressive career working with industry greats like, Johnny Winter, Edgar Winter, Dickey Betts, Jeff Beck, Jimmie Vaughan, Rick Derringer, Little Feat, and even the great Buddy Guy. Damon Fowler has recorded eight albums and is a huge blues favorite in his home state and especially at Earl’s Hideaway on a Sunday afternoon.
What’s great about a show at Earls is that it’s in the sand making it very casual and up close and personal. Damon wasted no time engaging the near capacity crowd and dialog flowed freely back and forth for the entire show. This is great as the crowd kept very engaged from the first note to the last.
Joining Damon on this overcast afternoon from Flint, Michigan was Justin Headley on drums who has previously worked with Butch Trucks & The Freight Train Band and bass player Chuck Riley who previously worked with the band Southern Hospitality. Seasoned musicians jamming the blues on a Sunday afternoon is just what the doctor orders to end most weeks but more so here as this was to end 2020 and hopefully the Covid pandemic life as we know it. The crowd was enjoying their individual normalcies and hope was in the air as the crowd smiled and swayed to the groove; some going up to dance barefoot in the sand in front of the stage.
Damon joked and played with the crowd, but most importantly he did what he does best, grooving the blues and playing the lap slide guitar like no other. On this particular Sunday, everyone at Earl’s Hideaway Lounge had a bond and looked content for even just for a few hours as the show went on from 2 PM to after 6:30 PM.
If you want to see a great show and truly transport yourself to your happy place, get out and see The Damon Fowler Band. Don’t forget to get yourself a T-Shirt as Damon self-proclaims they are the softest in the industry.
Band:
Damon Fowler – Guitar/Vocals
Justin Headley – Drums
Chuck Riley – Bass
Damon Fowler “Sugar Lee”
“It Came out of Nowhere” Damon Fowler & Samantha Fish @ Howlin’ Wolf NOLA 1/18/20
Damon Fowler Group – You’re Gonna Do Me Wrong
FOLLOW THE DAMON FOWLER GROUP ONLINE:
Follow Earl’s Hideaway Online:
Photographer and Editor/Founder of AllMusicMagazine.com. My love of live music has taken me to incredible experiences with the top bands of all time in stadium shows to the smallest venues with equally inspiring musicians. Using the medium of photography and my publication, these memories will last forever.
