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 of New and Old (Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois: Flem­ing H. Re­vell, 1887)
• Hymns of New and Old, No. 2 (New York: Flem­ing H. Re­vell, 1890)
• 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 (New York: 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. 295-7

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