Bill Lowery came to Atlanta in 1946 to see a Georgia Tech versus University of Alabama football game and decided to relocate to the city.  He worked as a disc jockey at WQXI and later at WGST, where he also broadcasted Georgia Tech football games.  He began hosting a radio show for local singers and songwriters, which led to his career as a music manager, producer, and publisher.

Lowery operated his music business out of the Gearhart Building beginning in 1955. The Gearhart Building was located at 1224 Fernwood Circle, adjacent to North Druid Hills Road and near the railroad tracks. The building was a converted school-the Brookhaven School built in the 1920s.

Nancy Carolyn Scruggs worked for Bill Lowery in the Gearhart Building. She remembers the history of the former school building. She also recalls that the school auditorium was used by Lowery as a recording studio. When she worked for Lowery, his record label was called National Recording Corporation.  She worked for Lowery from 1958 until 1960, living on Drew Valley Road at the time. 

Lowery was responsible for launching the careers of Ray Stevens, Sonny James, Jerry Reed, Mac Davis, Joe South, Atlanta Rhythm Section, the Tams, Tommy Roe, Bertie Higgins, and Billy Joe Royal.

Ray Stevens was inducted into the Country Music School Hall of Fame in 2019.  In an interview with the Country Music Association, Ray Stevens shared that he lived in Clarkdale and Albany, Georgia before moving to Atlanta at age seventeen.  There he met music publisher Bill Lowery, who “encouraged me to write songs” and helped Stevens get a recording contract with Capitol Records. 

Stevens continued to work with Bill Lowery from 1957 until 1962, when Stevens decided to move to Nashville.  He continued to record his own songs and worked as a session musician on other artists’ recordings. 

Stevens recalled a day in Nashville when he recorded his own song at 10:00 am, worked as a session musician for the recording of Walk on By with Leroy Van Dyke at 2:00 pm and then was part of the Joe Dowell recording of Wooden Heart at 6:00 pm.  

Another artist who worked with Lowery early in his career was Jerry Reed. Reed was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2017.  Bill Lowery was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in 1979.

During the years that Lowery worked as a music publisher in Brookhaven, he became known as “Mr. Atlanta Music.” There is a portion of Clairmont Road named in his honor, Bill Lowery Highway.  His record company folded in 1961, but he continued in the music business in a new location on Clairmont Road into the 1990’s. 

In 1960, the business was going strong. A January 25,1960 Atlanta Constitution article titled “National Recording Corporation Continues Amazing Growth Here,” reports on the record company’s growth. Records were being manufactured at a new production facility at 1224 Fernwood Circle. “Their newly installed record pressing plant is the only one of its kind in the region, with a battery of automatic Triulzi Record pressing presses capable of turning out up to 180 perfect records per hour for distribution throughout the USA, and overseas, including Australia.” The recording company owned six Triulzi presses with plans to purchase two more at that time.  

Thanks to Bill Lowery and the artists he managed, we now have such songs as Be Young, Be Foolish, Be Happy recorded by The Tams, Dizzy recorded by Tommy Roe, and Young Love recorded by Sonny James.

The Tams, consisting of an original member, other long time members, and new generations of the family still perform. You can see the history of the group and performing schedule here.

Other sources cited include, Name Artists Represented in National Recording’s Talent Pool, Atlanta Constitution, February 22,1960; Bill Lowery, georgiaencylopedia.org,