Towner stu­died mu­sic under his fa­ther (a well known sing­er and teach­er in his own right), John Howard, George Root, and James Webb. He was mu­sic di­rect­or at the Cen­ten­ary Meth­od­ist Church in Bing­ham­ton, New York (1870-1882); the York Street Meth­od­ist Epis­co­pal Church, Cin­cin­nati, Ohio (1882-1884); the Un­ion Meth­od­ist Epis­co­pal Church, Cov­ing­ton, Ken­tucky (1884-1885); and the Moody Bi­ble In­sti­tute, Chi­ca­go, Ill­i­nois (1893-1919). The Amer­i­can Temp­er­ance Uni­ver­si­ty in Har­ri­man, Ten­nes­see, award­ed Towner a Doc­tor­ate of Mu­sic in 1900. His works in­clude:

• Hymns Tried and True (Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois: The Bi­ble In­sti­tute Col­port­age As­so­ci­a­tion, 1911)

Sources

Music

1. Anywhere with Jesus
2. At Calvary
3. Christ Jesus Hath the Power
4. Covenant
5. Gone from My Heart
6. Full Surrender
7. Hand That Was Nailed to the Cross, The
8. He Will Answer Every Pray­er
9. He’s a Friend of Mine
10. Hear the Word
11. I Am Standing on the Word of God
12. I Do Love Jesus with All My Heart
13. If We Brightly Shine
14. Jesus Only, Let Me See
15. Joyful Sound
16. Light in the Eastern Sky
17. Moody
18. My Anchor Holds
19. Nor Silver Nor Gold
20. O Changeless Word
21. O Thou God of My Salva­tion
22. O Word of God
23. Old Ship of Zion, The
24. Only a Sinner
25. Saved by the Blood
26. Saving Grace
27. Send Out a Light
28. Some Sweet Day
29. Sunset Gate, The
30. Tell Out the Wonderful Story
31. Though the Fig Tree Shall Not Blossom
32. Trust and Obey
33. What Will It Be When We See Him?
34. Victory in My Soul