ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – The Music Fiesta, held on the second Saturday of the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, has featured musical acts 3 Dog Night, the Marshall Tucker Band, and Billy Currington. This year's lineup will feature Grammy Award-winning artist Carly Pearce, country music duo LOCASH, and local act Kyle Martin & Co. LOCASH bassist Zach Fowler is an Albuquerque native performing with the group since February 2015. "I get a call from LOCASH's band leader at the time and he's wondering if I can be on a bus that night to go to New York City because their bass player is stuck in Kansas City in a snowstorm," Fowler said. He would be offered the permanent gig that day and since then, Fowler has taken on the responsibilities of band leader as well. "I don't really consider myself such a 'musical director' or 'band leader' that I'm like directing every aspect of it because we have some guys on stage that are just unbelievable musicians," said Fowler. "Billy [Campbell, guitarist ] and Josh [Ellis, drummer] are just immaculate musicians and I'm just up there going like 'What am I doing up here with these guys?'" What else is happening in Albuquerque during Balloon Fiesta? Fowler got his start playing music at the age of 14. "My parents gave me a bass for Christmas and I didn't know how to play the thing, I didn't even know I was getting a bass...and I figured, 'Well, they obviously spent a lot of money on this, so I better learn to play it,'" said Fowler. He would play with friends in high school, as well as jazz bands in high school and at UNM. "I played with the wind symphony and symphonic bands [at UNM], I played with the Sound Pack at the Lobo Basketball games, and just gigged and gigged and gigged as much as I could," Fowler said. Fowler would keep busy around Albuquerque doing studio and session work as well as performing with local band The James Douglas Show for 11 years. "I was kind of finding myself going in a circle and circling back to gigs I had been doing for the past dozen-plus years and I was like 'You know if I'm going to try and pursue this, I need to probably move somewhere and do it now, otherwise I need to get a regular 9 to 5,'" said Fowler. At age 32, Fowler packed up his things and moved out to Nashville. Once there, he worked playing for artists like Dean Alexander and gigged around Music City anywhere he could, making a name for himself. Along with being an established Nashville musician for nearly a decade and band leader for LOCASH, Fowler has also added 'tour bus driver' to his workload. Fowler said the idea came out of necessity. "Before I started driving, we would have to take two drivers and that's another mouth to feed, another hotel room to get, another flight to book, and that adds up very quickly in addition to having to pay the driver for his actual driving services," he said. Balloon Fiesta 2024: What you need to know So Fowler decided to get his Commercial Driver's License and has been driving consistently since 2018 for not only the LOCASH crew but music acts across the country. "It's easy money, it's quick, and all I got to do is sit there and drive," Fowler said. With the Music Fiesta show coming up on October 12, Fowler can't wait. "It's always nice to come home, especially to play, because I get to see venues I used to play... I get to drive around and see the spots I grew up playing in," he said. Fowler has performed twice already at Isleta Amphitheater with LOCASH supporting Chris Young in 2019 and again in 2023 supporting Kane Brown. Fowler says the Balloon Fiesta holds a lot of great memories for him. "It's that aspect of Albuquerque that you always look forward to seeing. It's world-famous, and it's just something that makes Albuquerque uniquely Albuquerque," he said. Along with playing his hometown again, this year's Balloon Fiesta is going to be especially important for Fowler. "My wife's never seen it, my kid's never seen it. They're both going to come out," said Fowler. Just as his introduction to LOCASH was a last-minute rush to play a show, Fowler and LOCASH will be hopping on a plane right after their Music Fiesta show to perform a gig in Cameron, TX. He will be flying back Sunday morning to hopefully catch the tail end of Fiesta. The 2024 Music Fiesta begins at 1 p.m. at Balloon Fiesta Park. LOCASH goes on at 2:30 p.m. followed by Carly Pearce at 4 p.m.