Log Cabin Stories: Leon Bowman

Black Widow Spider

The Story of Leon Bowman

The Birmingham, Alabama, music scene had close connections to its bigger counterpart in Memphis during the 1950s and early 1960s. Several country and rock'n'roll singers from Birmingham recorded for Memphis labels, including Tex Dixon, Hoyt Johnson, Sherry Crane, among others. In addition, there was a group of singers like Lendon Smith, Junior Thompson and Buddy Bain & Kay Wayne out of Florence, Alabama, that recorded for Meteor Records in Memphis in the mid-1950s.

Alabama native Leon Bowman never recorded for a Memphis label but he was responsible for getting some Birmingham talent onto labels like Stomper Time Records. Although he recorded a single under his own name, Bowman was more of a songwriter and manager.

Born Leon Fleming Bowman on June 3, 1917, to Noah Arthur and Lillie Getrude (Hardin) Bowman, he was raised likely in Calhoun County or St. Clair County, Alabama, northwest of Birmingham. Bowman grew up in a large family with nine siblings, four sisters, and nine brothers, and many of them later settled in Birmingham. As a young man, he moved to Decatur, Alabama, took up the profession of a barber and worked at Herman Hinz' barber shop on 2nd Avenue.

World War II interrupted Bowman's plans and he was drafted, serving in the US Navy. He was stationed in Memphis, Tennessee, possibly developing early ties to the city during this time, and spent 18 months on sea as a ship's service man. He was discharged around November 1945 and returned to Decatur, taking up his job with Hinz again. In 1950, Bowman was appointed by Alabama Govenor "Big Jim" Folsom to serve honorably as a lieutenant colonel in the state militia. This duty lasted five years.

In the meantime, Bowman had married Norma Chatham and the couple would raise three daughters and four sons. At some point in the 1950s, Bowman moved his family to the Birmingham area, where, by 1958, he had become manager of the Arcadia Barber Shop located in the Five Points West Shopping Center. At least a year earlier, Bowman had found his way into the local music scene of Birmingham, playing guitar and writing songs.

Leon Bowman
(bad quality copy from WLP 8873)

Alabama boy Lee Carzle Hood was probably the first to record Bowman's songs. As Lee Carzle, he recorded "I'm Askin' But I'm Not Gettin'" and "What's In Store for Me", both Bowman originals, for the Memphis based Erwin label. The deal with Erwin Records, owned by Marshall Ellis, was set up by Bowman possibly with the help of Jim Atkins, an Alabama based DJ, promoter, and singer, who had recently brought Hoyt Johnson, another local, to the attention of Marshall Ellis. Terry Gordon of the excellent "Rockin' Country Style" discography project gives the release date as December 1957 (estimated) and it seems that most others, including Adam Komorowski in his liner notes for the Proper Records box set "Rockin' Memphis", adapted the date. However, a Birmingham News article from September 13, 1959, mentions that "Lee Carzle has gone on record for Erwin [...] both sides of which were written by Leon Brown [!]." So this means the record either did not come into existence until 1959 or it did not get any recognition from the local press until 1959.

Either way, Bowman made his way into the local music scene. He became involved in Homer Milan's Birmingham based Reed record label in some way, spending time in its studio, managing some of its artists, and supplying song material. Bowman also had a release out on Reed under his own name, his sole commercial record. Released in 1958, it was an extended play disc featuring four tracks: "Searching for Love", "Rocking the Blues", "Black Widow Spider", and "Looking For My Rib". For 41 years old Bowman, these tracks were surprisingly rocking. There were also a few unreleased tapes that did not see the light of day until the 1980s.

Bowman began managing rock'n'roll singer Ronnie Moore and they made use of the Memphis connection again, securing a release of "You Have This and More" b/w "Take a Look at the Moon" on Eddie Bond's Stomper Time label in 1959. Bond, who went on to become Memphis' top country music star, was friends with Marshall Ellis. Ellis also manufactured Bruce Brakefield's "Rain Boy" b/w "In Your Heart" on Bowman's own L-Flem-Bow label.

This label only lasted for the one Brakefield release but in 1960, Bowman was back at it with a brand new label, the aptly named Teen's Choice Records. The first known release was devoted to Ronnie Moore again, "Time for School" b/w "Sweet Shop Doll" (#TC-7). The catalogue numbers suggest that there were earlier releases prior to this but none have been found so far. It was #TC-8 that secured the label its place in rockabilly history. Tiny Tim & the Tornadoes recorded "I've Gotta Find Someone", a rip-roaring guitar driven rockabilly number, backed with "My One Desire", released in 1960. Tiny Tim's real name was Tim Bowman, a cousin of Leon Bowman. A third release in 1960 featured Jerry Lee Johnson & the Roulettes. It seems Bowman's Teen Choice label went out of business afterwards.

During the early 1960s, Birmingham artists like Othell Sullivan, Walter "Tex" Dixon (alias Mason Dixon), and Lee Carzle continued to record Bowman's songs for different labels. But by the middle of the decade, his activies in music had ceased. He continued to live in Birmingham until his death on January 13, 1977, at the age of 59 years. He is buried at Elmwood Cemetery in Birmingham.

The European rockabilly revival brought unknown artists like Bowman to the attention of music fans and collectors. In the 1980s, Dutch record collector Cees Klop visited Alabama and tracked down Bowman's family. Apparently, Bowman had buried unsold copies of the Tiny Tim release in his garden on Pleasant Grove Road and shortly after his widow had told Klop the story, both found themselfes digging out those records in the garden. You can see a lot of those copies being sold now on ebay, discogs, or in sales lists. Klop introduced both Leon and Tiny Bowman's recordings as well as many other associated music through his White Label LPs to young, European audiences and made them household names among rockabilly record collectors.