Mr. Herr and group,  My friend, Dr. Bob Pinsker, who is also a member
of the Rollscanners group, has been doing extensive research on Lemuel
Fowler.  I don't know what all he has turned up yet in terms of
biographical information, and there is still apparently a lot which
remains unknown about this guy.  Fortunately, we still have his
excellent recordings and piano rolls to listen to while we puzzle out
the details of his life.

As Scott Yanow points out (presumably after having read Mike
Montgomery's liner notes for the Document CD), very little is known
about Fowler, but he does give a nice synopsis of his career:

http://secure.swapacd.com/cd/artist/168331-lemuel+fowler/ 

Here is a link to a topic discussing genealogical research on Fowler
and also the other members of his band, the Washboard Wonders, posted
on the Yahoo group "RedHotJazz" a while back:

http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/RedHotJazz/messages/1870?threaded=1&m=e&var=1&tidx=1 

And here are some of Fowler's recordings, which you can listen to on
the Red Hot Jazz Archives site, using RealAudio player (a free
download!).

Most of these are either band sides or accompaniments to singers, but
especially don't pass up the latter: he plays some EXTREMELY tasty
piano behind some of these singers.  I highlight his accompaniment to
Edna Hicks singing "Wicked Dirty Fives" as just one of several
excellent examples.

  http://www.redhotjazz.com/ehicks.html 
  http://www.redhotjazz.com/coleman.html 
  http://www.redhotjazz.com/fowlersfavorites.html 
  http://www.redhotjazz.com/fww.html 
  http://www.redhotjazz.com/maggiejones.html 
  http://www.redhotjazz.com/jimdandies.html 

Unfortunately, there is no page for Fowler himself on the RedHotJazz
site YET, although there are others for James P. Johnson, Roy Bargy,
Jimmy Blythe, etc., listing their recordings and piano rolls.

As our editor pointed out, many of Fowler's extremely rare rolls are
available as recuts from BluesTone Music Rolls:

  http://www.bluesrolls.com/Blues.Fowler.html 

Plus, there are two nice CDs reissuing nearly everything he recorded,
including solos, band sides, and some vocal accompaniments:

"Lemuel Fowler: complete recorded works in chronological order" on the
Document label.  This is not his actual ENTIRE recorded output, since
they leave out many of his vocal accompaniment records to more
well-known singers such as Edna Hicks, which are reissued on other
Document CDs:

  http://www.document-records.com/fulldetails.asp?ProdID=JPCD-1520-2 
  http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=1592317 

"Chitterlin' Struts and Washboard Stomps" on the Frog label:

http://www.cduniverse.com/search/xx/music/pid/7512656/a/Chitterlin'+Struts+&+Washboard+Stomps.htm 

Here you can see a larger image of the front cover of the latter CD:

http://www.cduniverse.com/images.asp?pid=7512656&style=music&image=front&title=Fowler%2C+Lem+%2D+Chitterlin%27+Struts+%26+Washboard+Stomps+CD 

Perhaps this is a start.  We would sure love to see a high-resolution
scan of this photo!

Also, I would really love to see your high-resolution copy of the QRS
race rolls ad, since I have been looking for a good photo of Clarence
Johnson (1900-1933) who is one of my favorite pianists!  Mike Montgomery
got a chance to visit his aunt in Kentucky in the 1960's and
interviewed her about his life.

I collect Clarence Johnson rolls and only have about 10 so far (of over
200 he is known to have made, not counting the dozens of coin-piano
roll versions for which the 88-note originals have not yet been found!)

Finally, I may be able to identify the one pianist that you couldn't in
the gentleman's series of photos.  Please send me a scan or photo of the
original photo in question and I will do my best.

Thank you,
Andrew Barrett