WAIM #127: David Lowery

David Lowery is a something of a renaissance man. He is a singer and songwriter known the world over for his work in Camper Van Beethoven and Cracker. Lowery is also an esteemed member of academia, teaching the ins and outs of the music business to students at The University of Georgia. In addition to wearing both of those hats, David has spent much of his time over the last fifteen years working as an advocate for musicians, helping to fight for fairer streaming rates for artists, and working to expose the inherent economic unfairnesses of the music industry.

Growing up the son of an Air Force father and a British mother, David spent his earliest years in England, and in Franco’s Spain before moving back to a series of locations in the states. Eventually, the family settled near Los Angeles and by the time he had finished high school, David was enrolled in the mathematics department at UC Santa Cruz, and had begun knocking around in bands. Lowery started Camper Van Beethoven in 1983 and the outfit were releasing albums and touring by 1985 building a loyal fanbase along the way.

Over those last forty years Lowery has been hard at work helming Camper Van and/or Cracker, touring relentlessly and releasing 18 studio albums between the two bands. Whether he’s playing songwriter, touring artist, professor, or advocate, David Lowery is seemingly always in motion. With his experience on the front lines of rock and roll and with the perspective of an academic, Lowery has a unique window into the challenging nature of the music business in the digital era. He is using his impressive arsenal of skills to help level the playing field for emerging and middle class artists.

During our chat, we touched a bit on David’s musical work, but spent the bulk of our time together diving into the cultural costs of digital streaming, and looking at the way that young people are engaging with culture. We discussed the double edge sword presented by the internet, and David even shares some stories on ways that he has reached out across political and cultural divides to affect positive change for musicians.

Let’s get into it.

Cheers,
Matty C