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 (1870-82); the York Street Meth­od­ist Epis­co­pal Church, Cin­cin­nati, Ohio (1882-84); the Un­ion Meth­od­ist Epis­co­pal Church, Cov­ing­ton, Ken­tucky (1884-85); 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 of New and Old (Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois: Flem­ing H. Re­vell, 1887)
• Hymns of New and Old, No. 2 (New York: Flem­ing H. Re­vell, 1890)
• Bible Stu­dy Songs for Jun­ior So­ci­e­ties, Jun­ior and Pri­ma­ry Sun­day Schools, with Ber­tha F. Vel­la (Bos­ton, Mass­a­chu­setts: The Pil­grim Press, 1899)
• Hymns of Faith and Praise (Day­ton, Ohio: Lo­renz Pub­lish­ing Com­pa­ny, 1901)
• Famous Hymns, with Ed­win Ex­cell (Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois: The Bi­ble In­sti­tute Col­port­age As­so­ci­a­tion, 1907)
• The Ideal Song and Hymn Book (Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois: Flem­ing H. Re­vell Com­pa­ny, 1909)
• Hymns Tried and True (Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois: The Bi­ble In­sti­tute Col­port­age As­so­ci­a­tion, 1911)
• Songs of the Great Sal­va­tion, with Will­iam Run­yan (Wi­chi­ta, Kan­sas: The Run­yan Mu­sic Pub­lish­ing Com­pa­ny, cir­ca 1918)
• The Ta­ber­na­cle Hymns, with Ar­thur Mc­Kee (Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois: Ta­ber­na­cle Pub­lish­ing Com­pa­ny, 1918)

• Hall, pp. 295-97

1. Angel’s Song, The
2. Anywhere with Je­sus
3. Arm for the Con­flict
4. At Cal­va­ry
5. Ayer
6. Bethlehem’s Beau­ti­ful Star
7. Bird with the Brok­en Wing, The
8. Brink
9. Camden Mar­ket
10. Caumartin
11. Christ Je­sus Hath the Pow­er
12. Christian Fel­low­ship Song
13. Coloma
14. Covenant
15. Croix Bois­si­ère
16. Crystal Pal­ace
17. Fresno
18. Gone from My Heart
19. Full Sur­rend­er
20. Hand That Was Nailed to the Cross, The
21. Harare
22. Hasten, Lord, Thy Com­ing
23. He Is Car­ing for Me
24. He Will An­swer Ev­ery Pray­er
25. He’s a Friend of Mine
26. Hear the Word
27. I Am on the Glo­ry Side
28. I Am Stand­ing on the Word of God
29. I Do Love Je­sus with All My Heart
30. If It Be True
31. If We Bright­ly Shine
32. Jesus On­ly, Let Me See
33. Joyful Sound
34. Knob Lick
35. Light in the East­ern Sky
36. Long Beach
37. Lookout An­swers, All Is Well, The
38. Lord Hath Ris­en, The
39. Meeting in the Air
40. Moody
41. Move For­ward!
42. My Anch­or Holds
43. My House Will Stand
44. Navarre
45. Nor Sil­ver Nor Gold
46. Now I Know What Makes Me Hap­py
47. Nu‘uanu Pa­li
48. O Change­less Word
49. O Bless­èd Day!
50. O Friend With­out Je­sus
51. O Grace of God So Bound­less
52. O Thou God of My Sal­va­tion
53. O Won­der­ful Love
54. O Word of God
55. Old Ship of Zi­on, The
56. On That Great Day of Judg­ment
57. Only a Sin­ner
58. Risen Je­sus, The
59. Safe in Je­ho­vah’s Keep­ing
60. Saved by the Blood
61. Saving Grace
62. Send Out a Light
63. Some Sweet Day
64. Somewhere To­night
65. Star of Beau­ty
66. Sunset Gate, The
67. Tell Out the Won­der­ful Sto­ry
68. There Is a Land Mine Eye Hath Seen
69. There’s Peace in My Heart
70. Though the Fig Tree Shall Not Blos­som
71. Through Me
72. Till the Day Shall Dawn
73. Trust and Obey
74. What Will It Be When We See Him?
75. Victory in My Soul
76. Which Bid, My Bro­ther?
77. Who Is the King of Glo­ry?
78. Would You Be­lieve?
79. You’ll Reap What­so­ev­er You Sow