Had the pleasure of talking to Dennis Bowers last summer for a feature I was doing on his son, Da'Quan Bowers.
The story was about Da'Quan's "other" talent: playing lead guitar in his father's gospel band.
And this was some band. The Legendary Singing Stars are indeed legendary in the gospel music industry, touring across the country and even across the world.
The group's founder, Tommy Ellison, became sick in March of 2008 and ended up passing away. Dennis, who'd been with the group for more than 30 years, replaced Ellison as the group's frontman. That created an opening at Dennis' lead guitar spot, and Da'Quan was the obvious choice because he was the only person who could "make the guitar talk" like his father could.
"All the fans say he's identical to my style of playing," Dennis told me last July. "There's a reason for that because he's been around it all his life. Some of the other bands on the road say they can't tell us apart when we're on stage. He's been studying me all his life."
My heart aches when I go back through the transcription of my interviews with Dennis and Da'Quan. I will not claim to know either of them well. But my lengthy discussions with both of them for this particular story gave me a window into their love for each other through music.
Dennis, 52, drove an 18-wheeler and somehow managed to juggle that profession with his career as a professional musician -- all the while catching most of his son's games at Bamberg-Ehrhardt High, and later at Clemson.
Dennis gave Da'Quan his first guitar at age 4. He first took his son on tour when Da'Quan was 5.
"I'm 19 going on 20," Da'Quan told me last summer. "I've been out there my whole life. That's all I ever did was travel with my daddy. Go to school, play football, travel with my daddy."
When Da'Quan was in school as a child, sometimes his father would be gone for months at a time. So long that Da'Quan said he'd forget what his father looked like. But he had all those tapes his father gave him, and he'd listen to them over and over and over again.
As part of the story, we arranged to shoot a video of Da'Quan playing his guitar and talking about his career in music. At the shoot, I remember being struck by how serene and peaceful Da'Quan seemed with a guitar in his hands. He patiently answered my questions as he strummed quiet little licks on his electric Peavey T-60.
Dennis was equally at-ease and good-humored in our phone conversation. He called from the road, and I imagined him driving his big old 18-wheeler and beaming as he talked about his son on his cell phone.
He joked that Da'Quan still wasn't as good as his daddy.
"He thinks he's better than me, but I always tell him I'm the master. I ain't going to tell him everything I know."
But then he'd talk about how good it made him feel to see Da'Quan a few feet away on stage.
"It lets me know he's really been listening to me and watching me when he was growing up. That makes me feel proud."
Last month, I spoke with Da'Quan for a story on football. He told me, as he told a lot of people, that 2010 would be the year of the "new Da'Quan." He said the tremendous hype that accompanied his arrival to Clemson messed with his head and made him lazy at times. He said those days were over, and he spoke with conviction.
As the interview wrapped up, I asked him how the band thing was going. He had just returned from a weekend gig in Montana and was still stoked about the trip.
"I wanted this experience. I had never been out there. It was a great experience. A lot of fun."
I asked Da'Quan when he was planning on hanging up his guitar for the year and shifting into football mode.
"There's a show in Columbia on August 1st," he said. "I'll probably hang it up then. If not then, then we've got another one in Augusta on a Saturday night that I probably could make."
Da'Quan ended up going to Augusta on Saturday night after the Tigers finished practice, but not to play guitar with his daddy.
According to this story, Dennis was suffering from walking pneumonia. He collapsed before the start of the show and was rushed to the Medical College of Georgia.
Dennis passed away, and you didn't have to know him or his son well to be profoundly saddened by the news.
All you had to know was their story.
Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers.
Here's the piece we had on Da'Quan last summer.
And another one from ESPN's Mark Schlabach.
Rest in peace, Dennis Bowers.
LW
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