Singer, songwriter, son of Butler, Lonnie Lee Fowler has been honing his craft since his childhood.

His dream has been to make music that connects to the lives of his listeners.

“I want to write that song that when people hear it, they go, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s me,’” he said. “There are things that are part of the human experience — love, loss, regret — that everyone experiences.”

He has been making music for decades, chasing that great soul-sticking single, and he seems to be gaining on it.

The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) Foundation recently awarded Fowler the Harold Adamson Lyric Award for country music.

Fowler said he’s not looking for the spotlight on stage or in a packed stadium. He is much more comfortable working hard at writing his songs.

“I sing kind of more out of necessity,” he said. “I’m not really a songbird.”

He is currently signed to a deal with Warner Chappell and when he’s not writing or performing, he is working with younger artists.

Musical roots

It all started decades ago in a Western Pennsylvania home and a family where everyone learned to play music.

Fowler credits his mother, pianist and organist Karen Fowler, with instilling in him a love of music. But the lessons were not an overnight sensation.

“My mother was adamant we all take piano lessons,” he said. “Late elementary school I turned a corner, and I loved it.”

Throughout high school and college, he continued to learn and expand his musical horizons, playing everything from classical to jazz to country and pop.

Fowler said there were no epiphany moments when he suddenly realized he wanted to make a living making music. Rather, it was a process of self-discovery, fueled by his love of the craft.

“It was sort of a basic passion,” he said. “It was definitely in high school when the light switch turned, and I gave up my dream of playing for the Pittsburgh Penguins.”

Practice and passion

Fowler’s passion and nose-to-the-grindstone work ethic is the backbone of his musical career.

“If you’re playing, writing or creating anything, you have to do it every day,” Fowler said. “It’s like free-throws. You do them when nobody’s around so when the big game comes you’re ready.”

It’s all about hard work, passion and commitment. If music is your job, sometimes you have to treat it that way, Fowler said.

“If you’re a writer, you just have to sit up and write.”

In 2000, after Fowler had graduated college, spent some years on the road and performed for a few years in Indianapolis, he decided to move to Nashville, Tenn., the country music capitol of the world. There he played in local venues and found opportunities to tour with various groups.

“I started touring with different Christian and country artists playing mostly piano and keyboards starting that fall,” Fowler said.

Fowler’s touring took him all over the world, even back to Pittsburgh a few times, but his real interest was in songwriting.

He quit full-time touring in 2008 when a song he had written, “I’ll Walk” by American Idol contestant Bucky Conventon, hit the Top Ten on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart.

“My first song on the radio was also my first ‘cut’ as a songwriter,” he said.

After that, Fowler hunkered down in Nashville to focus on songwriting, performing and spending time with his family.

Passing it on

Fowler and his wife, Sara, have two sons, Coyle, 9, and Miles, 7, and he is every bit as adamant that his boys learn to play as his mother was with him.

“I’m forcing them as much as my mom forced me, but I have the iPod to make it seem like a game,” he said. “I have a couple music apps that they like.”

He says he often uses technology both as a tool and a reward for his sons to learn to play and read music.

For all its benefits, Fowler said technology also has made it a lot harder to find steady jobs in today’s music industry.

“A lot of opportunities are drying up that there used to be,” he said. New technologies like streaming have had a transformative effect on the music business, and the industry is still struggling to catch up.

Fowler said he is fortunate to have found steady work at Warner-Chappell.

In the 90s there were thousands of jobs for writers in Nashville, he said. Now, there are a few hundred.

For young musicians looking to make their careers in the age of streaming services and social media, Fowler says to stay passionate and to keep working hard every day.