Bryan Bowers

Autoharpist Bryan Bowers was born in Yorktown, Virginia, on August 18, 1940. As a boy, he would often sing along with the call-and-response harmonies of the railroad workers. He enrolled at Randolph Macon College in Ashland, Virginia, where he eventually began playing the guitar, but an itinerant multi-instrumentalist turned him on to the autoharp, and he was immediately hooked. Bowers dropped out of school and in 1971 moved to Seattle. While in Washington, Bowers busked on street corners and in barrooms, honing his autoharp performance skills. Then he made his way to Washin...