The Okemah Prophets (Oh-kee-mah) are a band out of Minneapolis, led by singer/songwriter Kevin Bowe. Bowe has a long history as a guitarist/writer/producer, landing 3 platinums and songs on 2 Grammy winning albums working with Paul Westerberg, Jonny Lang, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Etta James and others. The Okemah Prophets are what happens when he’s singing and playing his own songs….their live shows are a reminder that American rock and roll will always be cool, no indie rock posturing needed here, just soul, songwriting and a crack 3 piece band to play them loud.
After a long break spent touring/recording with other artists the new album Natchez Trace has put the band front and center; the record is getting raves from Rolling Stone to No Depression. Featuring contributions from Westerberg, Nels Cline (Wilco), Chuck Prophet, Freedy Johnston, Scarlet Rivera (Dylan), Tim O’Reagan (Jayhawks) and Meat Puppets, these songs transcend Americana, singer-songwriter, or any other label and take classic Minneapolis garage rock to a whole new level. Live shows behind this record are proving that the Prophets time has come, beyond being a “Minneapolis wrecking crew” backing up great artists like Alison Scott, Freedy Johnston and Gary Louris, this band has a thing all their own. Peter Anderson on drums (Polara, Honeydogs, Ocean Blue) and Steve Price (Rex Daisy, Suburbs) on bass round out the trio. Both the St. Cloud and Duluth papers have already called it the best CD of the year and dozens of US and European radio stations have put it in rotation, landing top 10 on the Euro Americana charts. SXSW shows and East Coast tour filled up the spring , and Europe awaits after that. Kevin and Peter just played on the Replacements session (with Westerberg and Tommy Stinson) to benefit the Mats ailing guitarist Slim Dunlap.
