Walter Jowers grew up in Burnettown, South Carolina, where the standard arc of life went something like this:
*Go to the worst schools in the U.S.
*Get your girlfriend pregnant during Christmas vacation in your senior year of high school.
*Raise your children, and maybe some chickens.
*Spend the rest of your days driving a bulldozer or, if you’re lucky, leading a life of petty crime.
Well, don’t you know, Walter didn’t quite fit in.
*Walter escaped the bad schools, the unwanted pregnancies, the menial labor and the criminal activity, and became a professional musician. His band at the time – The Fleshmen – which Walter insists that he did not name, had a regional hit record, “Go Funky.”
 *In the 70s, Walter was the guitarist in James Brown’s house band, at Brown’s nightclub, The Third World. There, he met renowned guitarist Cornell Dupree, who pronounced Walter, “the funkiest-playing white boy I ever heard.”
*Walter played briefly in Brook Benton’s band; and, he worked with bands throughout the Southeast, including the Tams and the Showmen. He also played a circuit of Hullaballoo clubs.
*Walter was the founder and bandleader of Hollowpoint, a funk-rock band that traveled the Southeast, then went straight down the tubes when Southern Rock music collapsed in the late 70s. “I blame disco,” Walter says, “and falsetto.”
*In the early 80s, Walter and his wife Brenda moved to Nashville, where Walter decided that there was just too much traveling, drinking and dope-smoking in the music industry, so he took a long break from the music business. “Never did like that hillbilly music,” Walter says. “It’s worse than disco.”
*In the mid-80s, Walter and Brenda moved to New York City, where Walter worked as an editor at Old-House Journal.
*Soon after, Walter and Brenda fled NYC and moved back to Nashville.
*In the 80s and 90s, Walter worked as a freelance how-to writer. He published articles in Old-House Journal, New England Builder, and Journal of Light Construction. He also wrote for Rodale Press’ book division. “I told people how to make silver polish with ketchup,” Walter says.
*In 1995, Walter became a columnist for the Nashville’s alternative newsweekly, the Nashville Scene. He still writes the “Helter Shelter” column, which is a blend of how-to, humor and weirdness from 1995 until the present.
*Walter, along with his able associate Rick Cozby, created House Sense, a home inspection company. They ran the company successfully until 2006, when Walter decided that he’d rather write than inspect houses. These days, Walter focuses his “housey” knowledge on litigation support and expert-witness testimony. “Beats crawling over cat carcasses,” Walter says.
*Although he’s kinda shy about it, Walter doesn’t mind if his close friends know that he’s a member of Mensa. “Y’all can look that up,” he says. |
