It was a steamy summer at the 16th annual Falcon Ridge Folk Festival in 2004. I was 11 years old. My family and I went every year so I kind of knew what to expect: music, food, camping, blahblahblah. I still wasn’t quite old enough to fully appreciate the truly wonderful musical talent that was there because I was more interested in Hoopoe the Clown at the Family Stage, but I was slowly becoming more cognizant of my surroundings. It started out as any other FRFF and went about the same way, but by the end of the weekend my parents were raving about some group called Lowen & Navarro. At the time, I thought, “Ugh more boring grown-up music.” However, the more I heard the CD my parents bought the more I liked them. And now I think of 2004 as one of the most significant years of my musical life.
Lowen & Navarro were a duo made up of Eric Lowen and Dave Navarro who began their career in 1984 writing songs for other artists. Ever heard of “We Belong” by Pat Benatar? That was them.
They also wrote songs for The Bangles, The Four Tops, The Temptations and David Lee Roth among others. A few years later they made the admittedly difficult transition to recording their music themselves in 1990 with their first album “Walking on a Wire” and three years later in 1993 with “Broken Moon,” easily two of their most well-known and well-loved records. They were played on the radio and earned a loyal following that fell in love with their rich harmonies and truthful songwriting and who came out in droves to their live performances.
Their success continued throughout the 90s where they released three more albums - a re-release of “Walking on a Wire” (1994) with bonus tracks, “Pendulum” (1995), and “Scratch at the Door” (1998). By this time the music world was changing; boy bands and pop stars dominated the radio and the commercialization of music skyrocketed like never before. Lowen & Navarro refused to be a part of that world and turned from their adult rock sound to fully embrace the folk music community which was far more down-to-earth and, well, folksy. Their fans came right along for the ride and their live shows continued to be successful, but records weren’t selling as well as they used to and in 1999 their record label dropped them.
But no matter. The duo started their own record label called Red Hen Records and continued releasing music. It was in this time period that they released one of my favorite L&N albums: “Live Radio,” a series of performances done live on Roz and Howard Lerman’s “Folk Radio” show. The songs on this album are exquisitely done and just how I like them; they are acoustic and raw and reveal the beauty and uniqueness of their voices and the emotional power of their lyrics. Really worth a listen.
In 2004, while still touring extensively, the group received tragic news. Eric Lowen had been diagnosed with ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis), aka Lou Gehrig’s disease, a progressive neurodegenerative disease that leaves its victims paralyzed and is ultimately fatal. But rather than give in to the threatening darkness, Eric and Dan decided to release their first album of all original music in six years: “All The Time in the World.” This was the first album I heard from them, the one my parents bought at Falcon Ridge in 2004. It is really a wonderful album with beautiful, real world poetry, expressive vocals, and complimentary harmonies that are like honey in my ears. It will always have a special place in my heart.
They went on together for five more years, 250 more shows, and two more albums; “Hogging the Covers” in 2006 and “Learning to Fall” in 2008. The title track from the latter deals with Eric Lowen’s struggles with ALS and is particularly powerful. It makes me cry every time.
In 2009 Eric became unable to play and they stopped recording and touring together. And in 2012, Eric finally passed away. I remember hearing about it and how deeply saddened I was that the world lost one of its greatest treasures. I had seen his condition worsen every time I saw him at Falcon Ridge since 2004, yet I somehow thought he would live forever. He was so full of life and love and music and is an inspiration to me to this day. Listening to Lowen & Navarro always reminds me to live my life to the best of my ability and to never give up on myself. There’s always a way.
