Hi!

I’m James Stanley Howen.  My friends call me Jimmy.  I don’t mind the younger tag now that I am over fifty years old and I no longer have any reason for wanting to sound older.  Well, I guess that the best place to start about myself is that I was born the oldest of eight children.  I was born in Laona, Wisconsin, which is in Forest County, on June 25, 1953.  My mother always said that I was born at the midnight hour and that she had two birthday dates to pick from.  We moved to southeastern Wisconsin when I was about three years old and finally settled in Kenosha County.

My earliest interest in music, according to Mom, was when I was a toddler.  I would always stop what I was doing and do a dance routine when Johnny Cash’s “I Walk The Line” came on the radio.  Then there was my Grandpa Ben Meyer who played the fiddle occasionally when we'd go visit.  However, probably my biggest early influence was my uncle Ed Howen Jr.  He played several instruments well and sang all the great traditional country songs that where popular in the fifties and sixties.

I started to pick up Uncle Ed’s bass guitar around 1967 and started to learn how to play along with his son, my cousin Larry, who played guitar.  That started my going from a spectator to player.  I started to play rhythm guitar around 1971 and started to write songs.

Many singer songwriters have influenced me over the years.  To name some, I guess I would start with Merle Haggard, John Fogerty, Kris Kristofferson, Neil Young, and the Beatles. 

      Continued...