From luaus to backing up Wayne Perdew & Shine Powell to poolside at the Holiday Inn, J R Owen has been part of Island’s music scene

jr-owen.-Patty-11By Fran Thompson
They might not know that the J R in his name is an acronym for Jelly Roll, but Pleasure Island’s longtimers might remember J R Owen as a member of the original Wayne Perdew All-Star Band that packed them in at Shirley & Wayne’s Supper Club, a gig that first brought J R over to Pleasure Island from Mobile in 1986. J R also immediately picked up a gig playing behind Shine Powell at The Pink Pony on Sunday afternoons upon entering Island time.
“It was kind of a weird thing that right away I was able to plug into the island’s two musical entities, other than Brent Burns,’’ Owen said. “I stumbled into the two main scenes in Gulf Shores music.’’
A Michigan native, J R came by his love for music naturally. His mother was a pianist at his church in the small town of Williamston (outside East Lansing). He always sang, but he was well into high school when he picked up a guitar for the first time.
Already playing music full-time for six years, J R said his life changed immediately (“sparks flew”) when he met his wife, Dottie, while playing a hotel gig in Greenville back in 1981. The two moved to Mobile to be closer to Dottie’s parents in Evergreen, and the couple moved to South Baldwin soon thereafter.
John Brust, a keyboard extraordinaire who still plays in the lobby lounge at Perdido Beach Resort, replaced J R on bass with the Wayne Perdew All-Star Band in 1987, when J R left to back up Powell at his new club behind the original Souvenir City in Gulf Shores.
That gig was short lived. But J R continued to find work. Backed by a trio of dancers, he packed the place playing twice weekly luaus at Gulf State Park Resort. (Billy Pelletier took over that gig when he left.)
“I enjoyed playing the Hawaiian music,’’ he said. “We had big fun doing that show. It was easy to get people to put on grass skirts and get up and dance.’’
J R also played for 14 consecutive summers poolside at the old Gulf Shores Holiday Inn from 1990 til 2003, the year he started playing with Cool Rayz.
“I guess you can look at the bad or the good in anything in life, but I realize that to be able to play music for a living for all these years is a groovy thing,’’ he said.
J R still plays solo gigs as well as in an acoustic version of Cool Rayz, J.E.R.I. In addition, he plays a number of ballroom dance clubs between Pensacola, Fairhope, Robertsdale, Spanish Fort and Mobile.
“I didn’t really want to do it at first. But these people dance to every song. And it’s fun to play chachas, tangos, waltzes and Rat Pack music,’’ he said. “I get to play A Girl From Ipanema. And it adds another slice to what I do. There’s one guy in Pensacola who is 101, and he comes to every dance I play there. He dances and is sharp witted. They all love to dance and have a good time.’’
J R said the most lucrative gigs in his eclectic career are the convention and corporate meetings that he’s been booked to play at up and down the beach.
He has played for the Alabama Pest Control Assn. at Perdido Beach Resort for 27 consecutive years and is now entertaining a second generation of exterminators. “One guy come up to me with his four or five year old and said he was the same age as his kid when he first heard me play,’’ he said.
J R also played in a duo at Papa Roccos with Powell and alternated weekends at that bistro with Burns, his longtime friend.
He and Dottie, who still keeps her real estate license active, ran a booking agency and also booked the music and ran the stages during the Shrimp Fest for many years. Dottie was also the general manager at the short lived but much loved Best Little Warehouse in L.A. nightclub on Hwy. 59 in the early 1990’s.
Just over a month from turning 65, J R said he has not thought about retiring.
“I enjoy all the different things I do,’’ he said. “I like playing in the little acoustic band. I like getting funky with Cool Rayz. I get to croon a little bit at the ballroom dances.
“Sometimes I think it’s not as fun as it used to be, but really it is,’’ he added. “It’s not always perfect. But it’s been wonderful to be able to make a living at it. So, I guess I’ll play ‘til they pull my cold dead fingers from the guitar strings. As long as I can play and sing and make a little money, I’ll be playing. Or more to the point, I’ll keep playing as long as people still want to hear me.’’