stephen_foster

'Featured Artist...05/December/2025...stephen_foster

Yes it's a sad, sad time at the moment....I am featuring Stephen Foster & Howler in this weeks show as a tribute to the memory of Steven who passed on the 17th of November 2025...... Sadly we never got to meet in person but our co-operation on the internet, promoting indie music was more of a friendship than a business arrangement. SAH-LOOT! My friend-Rest In Music!

Stephen Foster's professional music background goes back to 1969 in Muscle Shoals, AL, where he grew up. The list of musicians he's worked with in studio or onstage is a veritable who's who of American music. His music education however, started much earlier, in the 50s, when radio consisted of stations like WLS and WSM at night, and the playlist was as varied as imaginable. Jazz, Blues, Country, Texas Swing, Pop and early R&B all played side-by-side. His father, a stride jazz pianist, and his mother, a contralto jazz torch singer, insisted on a music education for their children. Piano lessons started at age 5, and the home was filled with music of all styles, but the records most played by his father were big band swing, Chet Atkins, and Pete Fountain. These influences led to the style Stephen displays to this day, stylish grooves and powerful choruses, forays into the country's rich musical past, and a willingness to let a song flow without pressing it into any genre.

Publishing and production contracts followed. His session credits are legendary. Record deals and concerts and sessions were steady through the 70s, but by '79 he was through with labels, and he went "Indie", starting WhiteHorse Records in Virginia. He made his living singing jingles at Alpha Audio in Richmond alongside Steve Bassett ("The Heartbeat Oh America") and other great ad singers.

In 2001, revitalized and refreshed, he re-entered the music business, entering into a partnership in MillKids/Howler studio in Huntsville, AL. His first album recorded there "Howler", released in 2002, produced the international hit "The Mighty Field Of Vision Anthem". He moved his studio to a mountaintop lodge in 2004, releasing "Howl At The Blues" in 2006. The album hit the charts in 2007, charting at #37 AMA Charts nationally and staying on the charts for 10 months, gaining national FM rotation on 6 songs. Hits from that album include "Mad As Hell", "Mama's Goin' Dancin' When The train Comes Home", "Cathead Blues" "Wearin' A Hole In The Blues" and "Changing Times".

A fierce indie, co-owner of IDNMusic.com (first on the net with streaming audio), and one of the early pioneers of streaming indie audio, Stephen was heavily involved in the internet drive to break the major labels' stranglehold on musicians and songwriters.