Steve Lowry

Steve and Janell with Gerry and Dewey at the Salt Lake City concert on April 24, 1998.
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Meet Steve Lowry from Orem, Utah.

I live in Orem, Utah which is located about 35 miles south of Salt Lake City. I've lived in Utah since 1976 but I grew up in Southern California and that's where I first became acquainted with America. As a high school teenager in Buena Park I can still remember the first time I heard "A Horse With No Name" and thinking how wonderful it was that Neil Young had come out with a new song. When I found out that it wasn't Neil Young, but instead a new group called America, I began developing an appreciation for the talent and style that this group possessed.

As a freshman at Brigham Young University, I enjoyed listening to the local AM radio station because every Friday night they played a newly released album. My roommate and I were both big America fans and we were elated when we learned that the radio station would be playing the Homecoming album before it was even available in the record stores. We both had our tape recorders ready when it played that night and we just about wore out the tapes by the time the album became available because we had played them so much. My appreciation for America's music has grown tremendously since then.

In 1994 I went to an America/Beach Boys concert at Wolf Mountain (now Park City Mountain) and learned that America had put out a new album called Hourglass. They played a couple of cuts from the new album and I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. It was available on cassette or CD, but since I didn't own a CD player, I got the cassette. (I know you're thinking, "come on Steve, that was the 90's!") While buying the cassette I learned that they had put out a few albums that I didn't have, namely, Alibi, Perspective, and Silent Letter. My quest to obtain those albums began. The first thing I did was write a letter to Capitol records to see if they knew where I could get the albums. They said no, but referred me to Gallin-Morey Associates in Beverly Hills. I wrote a letter to Gallin-Morey and received an e-mail response from John Himelstein. He referred me to Rick Wahlgren and said that a bunch of people on the Internet could probably help me. I sent a message to Rick and he introduced me to Ike Gauley and Jim Nakao. From there, my "web of America friends" grew until I was corresponding with people all over the country.

It took me until October of 1995 to track down all of the missing albums but I finally did it. While I was tracking them down, I had several America fans who helped me out by making copies of the albums on tape that I could listen to until I could get my own original. America fans are really great that way. In 1995 I actually bought a CD player and I decided that I needed to get all of the America CDs. I was surprised to learn that almost all of their albums were available on CD as imports. Orem isn't very big (population was about 85,000 back then) but there was a local CD store that had an unbelievable number of imported CDs. I was able to get all of the America albums on CD (including The Soundtrack from The Last Unicorn) with the exception of Alibi, Your Move, Silent Letter, and Perspective. I eventually was able to get all of America's albums on CD.

One of my greatest thrills was at an America concert near Park City in August of 1995. I had been corresponding with Rick, Ike, and Jim and told them that I would be at the concert. They were planning on attending the concert near Las Vegas the following night. At the Park City concert America did a fantastic job, as usual, but after the concert I hung around for awhile to see if Gerry or Dewey would come out for autographs. My waiting paid off when Gerry game out and spoke with me and about 10 other people who were waiting. He willingly signed my "America's 25th Anniversary" t-shirt and he allowed the others to take pictures with him. I wish I would have taken my camera.

Steve with Gerry and Dewey after the Park City concert on November 24, 1995.

In November of 1995 America played in Park City at the kickoff of the America's Cup Ski Racing event. I was able to meet Kelly Ewles and Barb and Gary Bickmore who are all from California. I had "talked" with them over the Internet many times but it was wonderful to meet them in person. After the concert we were able to meet all the members of the band and this time I remembered my camera, Being able to meet all the members of the band exceeded the thrill mentioned in the previous paragraph. Barb and Gary took some great photographs of the concert.

In May of 1997 America played a private concert in Las Vegas. I happened to be in Las Vegas celebrating my 21st anniversary so I thought I'd try to see the concert. I was able to track down the guys before the concert and they were very cordial. Gerry, Dewey, and I talked about the lyrics that I had put on the America Fans page and then they both autographed a picture for me. I got to hear the concert which was short but sweet. The following night the guys played in St. George and I had front row seats to that concert. They played the long set which was fantastic. Pete unveiled the newly printed t-shirts for the 1997-1998 tour and I made sure that my wife and I bought a couple before we left.

Steve with Willie, Michael, and Brad at the Salt Lake City concert on April 24, 1998.
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In April of 1998 America made a tour through Washington, Idaho, and Utah. Their last stop was in Salt Lake City and I was one of the 10,000 or so fans that attended the concert. America's road manager, Scott, was gracious enough to give me backstage passes so that I could meet with the guys before and after the concert. I was able to get some great photos and to talk with Gerry and Dewey about their upcoming CD, Human Nature.

Since 1998 I've seen America practically every time they've been in Utah and I've traveled out of state a few times to see them. Here are some links to photos I've taken at some of those concerts:

• Sparks, Nevada Concert (1998)
• Orem, Utah Concert (1999)
• Park City, Utah Concert (2000)
• Mesquite, Nevada Concert (2001)
• Mesquite, Nevada Concert (2002)
• Sandy, Utah Concert (2002) - Group 1 of 3
• Sandy, Utah Concert (2002) - Group 2 of 3
• Sandy, Utah Concert (2002) - Group 3 of 3
• American Fork, Utah Concert (2003)
• Anaheim, California Concert (2004)
• Layton, Utah Concert (2004) - Group 1 of 3
• Layton, Utah Concert (2004) - Group 2 of 3
• Layton, Utah Concert (2004) - Group 3 of 3
• Ogden, Utah Concert (2006)
• Orem, Utah Concert (2007)

My most memorable concert would have to be the Sandy concert in 2002. Before the concert began I took my guitar backstage to have it autographed by Gerry and Dewey. After they finished I started strumming the intro to "A Horse With No Name", "Sister Golden Hair", "Amber Cascades", and a few other songs. Gerry looked up and said, "we need to get him on stage with us." I wondered if he was serious but it quickly became obvious that he was. I said, "why not?" So, we made arrangements for me to join them during the encore. I was somewhat nervous during the concert as I thought about going on stage, but when the time came they made me feel very comfortable and at ease. I played my autographed guitar and sang with Michael. When it came time to do the "ZZ Top" move, I joined them and that got a good reaction out of the capacity crowd. I was fortunate that my brother-in-law was taking pictures while I was on stage and another America fan took a 15 second video clip with his digital camera which he e-mailed to me. Looking back, that was a great honor from America and a night that I'll never forget. In 2004 and 2006 I got to play the encore with America again at the Layton and Ogden, Utah concerts. I wasn't quite as nervous those times and it was a real thrill and an honor.

Besides being an avid America fan, I'm also a retired software engineering manager, software engineer, development manager, and web developer at FamilySearch, Symantec (now Broadcom), Novell (now part of OpenText), Corel, and WordPerfect. I helped write both the DOS and Windows 3.1 versions of the WordPerfect word processor as well as the Windows 95 version (that was back in the days when it was the most popular word processor). In my spare time (which isn't much) I enjoy doing things on my computers, doing family history (aka genealogy), hiking, taking photos of nature (especially birds), and working in the yard.

I have been married over 47 years and have a wonderful family. My wife, Janell, and I have three sons and two daughters. All of them are married and the have blessed us with 14 grandchildren. All three of my boys have achieved the rank of Eagle in the Boy Scouts and they often went camping with me and my wife. One of my most unique camping experiences was at Wheeler Peak, Nevada, where we saw the final resting place of The Horse With No Name. I also enjoy playing the guitar, especially when it's one of America's songs.

As the webmaster of the America Fans web site, I often get asked how I became the webmaster. That's a very interesting story which you can read on the America Fans Web Site History page.

Feel free to send your comments or questions to Steve.