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Sweet Water Junction Band is proud of its 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, and 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 and radio station WANE with band members, "Slim" Adams and Johnny Loveday. They 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 played numerous times at the historical Buck Lake Ranch in Angola, Indiana, known as the Nashville of the North. He was also a Co-Writer of a song that Tex Ritter had charted in 1951. Porter’s name was 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...

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 with Sam Moffett Jr, the bass player, and Scott Page, the drummer. His wife, Sherry ran the lights and sound. The Sweet Water Junction Band has a past career that included working with many other Country artist, some as well known as; Dave Dudley, Del Reeves,
Sonny Wright and Peggy Sue Webb, sister of Loretta Lynn. In 1987, Dave, while continuing in music, moved his family from Indiana to the Sunny state of Florida, where he spent the next 25 years before moving on to North Carolina.

Through-out the musical journey and moves, David and SherryJo kept busy raising eight beautiful children. Although still interested in music after their move, most of their time was spent in raising the children. With the older children being musically inclined, in 1995 the entire family started off on a faith journey that lasted six ½ years as they traveled throughout the nation. During this time, known widely as The McDowell Family, they were singing and playing their own brand of, mostly original, along with some old favorite, Southern Gospel numbers. They performed in hundreds of churches, festivals, and concert halls through-out the United States. During this time they recorded seven musical projects and influenced the lives of countless people during their musical journey. During those travels they appeared with some well known National Gospel Groups such as; The Hoppers, The McKiethens, John Rowsey with New Journey, The Freemans, Phiefers, The Wisnauts, The Primitive Quartet, Kirk Talley, and countless regional groups. As the children grew and married, they once again settled in Florida in 2001 through 2012.

Today David, with his talented family is still busy at work performing. They reside in the border hills of the Carolinas and are primarily booking there along with Tennessee, Virginia, Georgia, and some Florida fall & winter gigs... In 2002 they changed the format of their music, going back to the David's the father, original roots of Country. They perform some of the best in hot kickin' Country & Southern Rock. Performing popular cover songs, they are also busy working on two projects titled: "Around the Bend" and the second project titled: "Sometimes it's Blue". Both are Under the record label Tradition. In the fall of 2010, they completed their first music video titled "Cardboard Box", © Golden Stair Music 2008, Written By Reshana Marie (McDowell) McGatha, & recorded in house at IHS Productions Inc. and performed by Sweet Water Junction Band.

David McDowell, the father of eight children, has passed the music down to his family, as did his father with him, and so the tradition lives on...