History of Sweet Water Junction Band

Sweet Water Junction Band is proud of it’s history. In fact there is so much history to this family band that it can’t be written in one letter. This page will go back to the very start of this band's musical journey.
It all started with David McDowell’s father Porter McDowell. On February 29, 1916 Porter was born in the small community of Patesville Kentucky. Porter was raised with three brothers and two sisters and got his education working in the family coal mine. During the Great Depression at the age of fifteen Porter left home and joined the CCC in Seattle, Washington. This was one of President Roosevelt's New Deal plans to help people help themselves during the harshest of economic times. After Seattle Porter set out for the Midwest, he worked his way through Chicago, Illinois and in 1936 ended up in Fort Wayne, Indiana. There he called for his family to move up from Kentucky to this “prosperous” industrial city, which they did.
Porter had started playing home grown bluegrass music with his family when he was a child in Kentucky. Those were the days of the front porch gatherings which produced some very awesome talent that still influences our music today. Keep in mind there was no television in those days and only the well off could afford a radio, so a community would gather at a neighbor’s house and entertain one another. After arriving in Fort Wayne Porter decided to work with a band to make some extra money and that was the start of a legend.
By 1949 Porter was working with bands that opened doors and future possibilities for his son, David, as he started his career in music. Porter performed many times on the historical live Chicago radio station WLS, for the National Barn Dance. Porter was also a regular every Saturday morning on Fort Wayne, Indiana’s WOWO live country music program. He played with some of the legendary greats from those days like Roy Rogers, Tex Ritter, Little Jimmy Dickens, Carl Smith, Porter Waggoner, Roy Acuff, and Ferlin Husky to name a few. Porter helped develop the historical Buck Lake Ranch in Angola Indiana, and was also a Co- Writer of a song that Tex Ritter had charted in 1951. Today Porter’s name is in the Old Country Music Hall of Fame as one of the early pioneers of country music.
When you would listen to some of the stories that Porter had to share you could hear history in the making. He used to say “We traveled with a five piece band in a 1941 Packard Hearse with my old stand up bass fiddle stuffed in the back”. My, how times have changed.
Porter McDowell is the Grandfather of the Sweet Water Junction Band. If you take time to really listen to this excellent family’s music, you will hear the product of those seeds that he planted so many years ago. History is still in the process of being made...
the beginning of a family tradition that is still alive today.

Porter's son David McDowell, born June 11.1952, was surrounded by the musical influence of his father as he grew up. In his early twenties, he met the well established Nashville songwriter, Billy Nix. Billy had a group called Billy Nix and the Ideals. Dave became an Ideal playing bass for Billy until mid 1979. This opened up many opportunities to learn the business as he worked in concert, club, and studio environments. It was during the mid 70's when David met and married his present wife, SherryJo. In late 1979 Dave started his own country / southern rock band called “Sweet Water Junction”. This band proved to be a popular, high energy country band in that tri-state area. David played lead guitar, sang bass and shared lead vocals ... for the complete story go to www.sweetwaterjunctionband.com/history.html