Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Musician's Spotlight: John Lowell and Ben Winship

The Growling Old Men, Ben Winship and John Lowell.
The Growling Old Men, Ben Winship and John Lowell.

Together they're The Growling Old Men, individually they are Ben Winship and John Lowell, and they're two first rate musicians in every sense of the word. Host John Floridis visited with both musicians separately for this special program featuring both artists.

Lowell, a flat picking acoustic guitarist of the highest order with a stunning, smooth vocal style that can inhabit all kinds of genres has forged a 30 year career based out of Livingston, Montana. He's performed at the Grand Targhee Bluegrass Festival stage for several years with his band Kane’s River, the Telluride stage with Loose Ties, and at the Vancouver Folk Festival with the John Lowell Band along with hundreds of other performances in the last 30 years in locations from Shetland to San Bernardino.

Ben Winship, an award winning mandolinist/mutli-instrumentalist, vocalist and songwriter hails from Victor, Idaho. Winship’s version of string band music is an exploration of crossroads; where raw meets refined, original meets traditional, weird meets familiar, organized meets free ranging. The Boston Globe called his sound “A further leap from traditional hill country music.” While Tim O’Brien refers to him as “One of the acoustic music scene’s best writers.”

John Floridis, the host and producer of Musician's Spotlight, has been with Montana Public Radio since 1997. He has interviewed over 200 musicians during that time. He is also an independent recording and performing artist in his own right and a former registered music therapist.
Become a sustaining member for as low as $5/month
Make an annual or one-time donation to support MTPR
Pay an existing pledge or update your payment information
  • Guitarist and singer songwriter Cary Morin makes his first appearance on Musician's Spotlight, bringing his Roots-infused Native Americana."
  • Multiple Grammy Award winning singer, songwriter, song interpreter Joan Osborne visits with host John Floridis to talk about her four decade career including her 2023 album "Nobody Owns You."
  • Grammy Award winning singer songwriter Suzy Bogguss joins host John Floridis on this Musician's Spotlight. Through her four decade career that has produced over 20 albums under her own name as well as many more in collaboration with other artists, Suzy has set herself apart with her distinctive sound.
  • A much anticipated Musician's Spotlight with the Fanoos Ensemble. Tune in to hear their remarkable story, told in music and words: The story of the true "Heart of Afghanistan", a story they cannot tell from their homeland due to current conditions in that country.
  • Dynamic singer songwriter Martin Sexton returns to Musician's Spotlight to check in since his last visit in 2017. He talks about how the music of the 1970's, and Van Morrison in particular, influenced his own work and how getting his first electric guitar — not acoustic, as he is known for playing — was the jump-start he needed for his passion for music.
  • Stefan and Kerrie Szabo of National Park Radio visit with host John Floridis. Stefan and Kerrie discuss the origins of the group and how Kerrie became a more prominent singer on stage with little to no previous experience beyond singing with friends at a nursing home.