Retired First Class Sergeant Dana Bowman

Dana Bowman has astounded the nation and the world with his drive, determination, and will to succeed. He is a retired First Class Sergeant with the U.S. Army where he was a Special Forces Soldier and a member of the U.S. Army's elite parachute team, the Golden Knights. Dana Bowman is a double amputee. He lost his legs in an accident during the annual Golden Knights training in Yuma, Arizona, in 1994.

On February 6,1994, Dana Bowman gained worldwide attention when he and his teammate Sgt. Jose Aguillon collided in midair during the team's annual training. Bowman and Aguillon were practicing a maneuver known as the Diamond Track. The maneuver calls for the jumpers to streak away from each other for about a mile and then turn 180 degrees and fly back toward each other crisscrossing in the sky. Bowman and Aguillon had demonstrated the Diamond Track more than fifty times without a mistake, but this time was different.

Rather than crisscrossing, the two skydivers slammed into each other at a combined speed of 300 miles per hour. Aguillon died instantly. Dana Bowman's legs were severed from his body, one above the knee and one below the knee. Bowman's parachute opened on impact. He was taken to a hospital in Phoenix where doctors closed his leg wounds and stopped his internal bleeding.

Nine months later, he turned this tragedy into a triumph when he became the first double amputee to re-enlist in the United States Army. Dana Bowman re-enlisted in the United States Army airborne style, skydiving with his commander into the ceremony, making his dream a reality. This achievement is just one example of Bowman's many successes under adverse circumstances.

After Dana Bowman's re-enlistment, he became the U.S. Parachute Team's lead speaker and recruiting commander. Dana has been fortunate to have the opportunity to let his speeches touch so many from the physically challenged to the able-bodied. He strives to show physically challenged people can still work and excel in today's society and military. Dana Bowman emphasizes the words amputee and uselessness are not synonymous.

Dana Bowman has given more than 1000 speeches in the last few years and has been featured in magazines such as Sports Illustrated, Reader's Digest, People and many more. There have also been numerous television programs, which focused on Dana and his story. Some of the programs include: Dateline, A Current Affair, Real TV, NBC Person of the Week, Day and Date and Extra.

Dana Bowman retired from the United States Army in 1996. He received his bachelor's degree in commercial aviation from UND Aerospace in Grand Forks, North Dakota in May of 2000.

Dana Bowman spends a great deal of his personal time working with other amputees and disabled or physically challenged people. He also spends time at different military hospitals helping the wounded soldiers during the current world situation. He enjoys visiting patients at numerous healthcare facilities while on the road speaking.

Dana on his Back in the Air

Dana Bowman

Dana Bowman

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MONTY HOLMES
Country Music Songwriter and Artist

Monty Holmes' love of traditional country music was first instilled in him as a child. Growing up in Lubbock, Holmes' grandfather (who played fiddle, guitar, and piano) exposed him to his record collection and artists like Jimmie Rodgers. Half asleep in the back seat of a green Ford Torino, somewhere between Lubbock and Louisiana, an 18-year-old Holmes heard the voice of Merle Haggard. Then and there, he
decided country music would be his life's work. From Ray Price to the Rolling Stones, Holmes' songs reflect his varied musical influences.

As a young adult, Holmes formed a band and moved to Austin, where he recorded the song "In the Arms of a Beautiful Woman" and earned a regional hit. From there, it was on to Nashville and work as a staff songwriter and singer on demo recordings. Through his demo work, Holmes quickly gained a reputation for his voice. Holmes has been a staff writer for such country music luminaries as Hank Cochran, the historic Acuff-Rose Publishing Company, and Combine Music. He has penned several hit songs for George Strait, including "I Know That She Still Loves Me" and the Top Ten "When Did You Stop Loving Me", as well as "What I Do The Best" for John Michael Montgomery and "Never Again, Again", Lee Ann Womack’s debut single.

Holmes is a multiple BMI "million-air”, an honor for writers of songs with over 1 million broadcast performances.

Monty Holmes

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Leslie Satcher
Critically Acclaimed singer/songwriter 

                                                                                           

The long awaited second CD by critically acclaimed singer/songwriter Leslie Satcher is finally complete as her first independent project. Leslie is well known for the songs she has written that have been recorded by artists such as Randy Travis, Willie Nelson, Bonnie Riatt, George Jones, George Strait, Gretchen Wilson, Trisha Yearwood, Patty Loveless, Vince Gill and dozens more.

 

Now, she has finished her own "creation" from start to finish on her own terms. This "creation" exposes her Texas roots and tells us the story of her journey through the hard red dirt, heartaches & frustrations and the joy of finding true love. With the best musicians in the business and the guest vocals of Vince Gill, Alison Krauss, Carl Jackson, Wes Hightower & Jeannie Winn all produced by Grammy Winning Luke
Wooten, this is truly a gem for the discerning music lover.

 

Leslie Satcher is a fifth generation Texan. The daughter of a strong hearted single mother and grand daughter of cotton sharecroppers and pioneers, she is no stranger to hard work and perseverance. Born in 1962 where the Chisolm Trail and the Red River cross, Leslie grew up singing in the churches and schools of Paris, Texas along side her baby sister Jeannie Winn.

 

In 1989, during a short trip to Nashville, a friend prompted Leslie to record her voice over the tracks of country standards at The Barbara Mandrell Museum. That was all it took! Just four weeks later she was crossing her beloved Red River in a $1,000 Chevrolet dragging a U-Haul trailer with an ironing board strapped to the back. If her story sounds like the beginning of a country song, it was.

 

After several "day jobs" in "Music City", Leslie's talent as a songwriter was recognized by a friend from church, Guy Penrod of the Gaither Vocal Band, who
encouraged her to show her work to friends Larry Strickland and Naomi Judd. It was Naomi who helped her hone her skills into a more commercial form and then introduced her to guitarist Don Potter who was starting a new publishing company. The company never came about, but the prospect of writing for a living blossomed for Leslie.

 

After a Sunday night show at the world famous Bluebird Café, Leslie teamed with accomplished father and son songwriters Max D. and Max T. Barnes. A writing contract with the then new publishing company Island Bound Music ensued. Seven years of cuts by artists such as Joe Diffie, Sara Evans, Lee Ann Womack, Wade Hayes, Reba McEntire, Vince Gill, Pam Tillis, and Willie Nelson helped Leslie take the next step in her career.

 

Jim Ed Norman of Warner Brothers Records Nashville saw something in the talent from Texas and gave her the chance to record her first project"Love Letters". Leslie and her dear friend, producer Luke Wooten, turned in a critically acclaimed album that established her as one of the leading singer/songwriters in the country music industry today. Currently, Leslie is focusing on her second album as well as continuing to pen songs for other artists as a staff writer for Sony Tree ATV.

 

Leslie performs all over the United States and is often found doing benefits with friends Vince Gill, Amy Grant, Paul Overstreet and others. In 2003 Leslie met the love her life, David Allen of Longview, Texas, while appearing at the annual benefit for the East Texas Angel Network founded by two-time Entertainer of the Year Neal McCoy. With David pursuing an acting career, the two artists stay busy between family and friends in Texas and Australia, going to church, and enjoying time together at home and the beach.

 

Longtime hero Willie Nelson wrote Leslie's heart when he put down the words "...on the road again..." for that truly is where this Texas singer/songwriter loves to be. Meeting the people who find something of meaning in the songs Leslie Satcher believes are nothing short of gifts from God.

 

 

Leslie Satcher

 

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Stephen Cochran

Iraq and Afghanistan Marine Veteran
Country Songwriter and Artist

 

If great country music is still built on a solid foundation of compelling real-life stories and soul-deep family tradition, Stephen Cochran was born to the breed. With a Music Row pedigree, a soldier’s sense of purpose and a lifetime’s worth of stories, this 27-year-old explodes onto the country music scene with a self-titled debut album that combines the best of cutting-edge, contemporary songwriting with the
deepest country music tradition. It’s a potent combination, and it was Cochran’s intention from the start.

 

“We really tried to capture country music as a whole,” he says. “This is all about the music, and I handpicked every song on this CD.” From the cracking snare drum that kicks off “Friday Night Fireside,” the album’s raucous leadoff track and debut single, it’s clear that, musically, Cochran means business. Cochran knew he had to record the song that was co-written by Isaac Rich, brother of Big & Rich’s John
Rich.

 

Born in Pikeville, Kentucky and raised in the creative heart of Nashville’s song writing and recording community, he watched his Dad, Steve Cochran, wrestle with the machinery of Music Row as a struggling songwriter and artist. Country greats Bobby Bare and the late Del Reeves are just a couple of the characters that drifted in and out of the Cochran home. “That was my school, coming home and watching Dad practice and play and write,” he says. “With Dad doing his music hustle, I was raised in the business and I learned the ins and outs. My dad is a perfectionist and he’s always been hard on me, but I’m glad because if he hadn’t been that hard on me I wouldn’t have worked as hard as I have to be here. I love music, and that’s what he instilled in me. There’s a song on the album called “Old School” that says, ‘I remember what Daddy told me, you’ve got to play it how it feels and just always keep it real.’”

 

Cochran’s life on his way to his fiery debut release is about as real as it gets. Always a patriotic family, the Cochrans, like a lot of Americans, were forever changed by the traumatic events of 9/11. The music would have to wait. Stephen Cochran knew what he had to do. “The way I was raised was to be very thankful to this country for being able to do our dream, which is music,” Cochran says. “So to stand up and defend it? That’s our honor.”

 

Cochran joined the Marines’ light armored reconnaissance division and headed straight to Iraq. He returned safely, but wasn’t so lucky on his next overseas tour – to Afghanistan. After losing a good friend to enemy fire, Cochran returned home with a broken back and a newfound determination to make his country music dream come true. He used his recovery time well, digging deep to reignite his passion for
songwriting. “I love the Marine Corps,” Cochran says. “Everything they did for me structured my life and gave me the drive to know that I can do anything I want to do.”

 

From the Civil War-themed barroom balladry of “Four Chords & Seven Beers Ago” to the honky tonk swing of “Thinkin’ I’m Drinkin’” (both Cochran originals), every song on this auspicious debut reflects the singer’s hard-won wisdom and fearless determination. Cochran’s background is refreshingly, unflinchingly real. This is no manufactured artist, and listening to his music, it’s crystal clear that Cochran
has lived every word of every one of these songs and knows exactly where he needs to go. It’s what dictates and defines his choices – both in music and in business.

 

Frustrated and determined to keep his music front and center, Cochran walked away from the majors. True to form, he turned the experience into one of the album’s best songs, a kind of musical mission statement appropriately titled “Leave My Country Alone.” He then set about finding the right home for his artistry and his music, signing with fledgling Nashville independent label, Aria Records Nashville.

“Aria Records is structured a lot like Broken Bow [indie home to country hitmakers Jason Aldean and Craig Morgan] and it feels like a family,” Cochran says. “I get to be a part of that family, and every decision is made as a group.”

 

As he prepares for the release of his first album, Cochran is taking his act on the road, and if the rapturous response he’s getting from audiences is any indication, this is one country artist who’s here to stay. "My goal was to build a bridge between newer listeners and those who love the heritage of country,” he says. “I believe God puts everyone here on earth to do something and you can only deny it for so long. And I believe I was bred to do this music.”