The list of lofty shows and achievements for 17-year-old Nashville-based guitar sensation Grace Bowers just keeps growing. Last year she appeared at Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Festival and delivered a star-making set at the Newport Folk Festival.
That was just a warm-up for this year, which has seen her play guitar for Dolly Parton, open for Bleachers at the NCAA Final Four Championship Game Tailgate Concert in Phoenix, AZ and fly out right after that to play a private event in Augusta, GA with Mercedes Benz for the National Womens Amateur tournament.
‘Bowers has been endorsed and sought after by both musicians – Parton, Clapton, Lainey Wilson, Margo Price, Tyler Childers, Susan Tedeschi and more – and industry heavyweights — Marcie Allen Consulting handles her brand partnerships, and this year Bowers will appear at BottleRock, Bourbon And Beyond, Telluride Blues & Brews Festival, and more.
She has done all of this to this point without releasing any music. That changes today though with the release of her debut single, “Tell Me Why U Do That.” Influenced by Sly & The Family Stone and George Clinton’s Funkadelic, the song is an infectious, joyous party and a worthy introduction to Bowers, whose debut album is scheduled as of now for this summer.
Bowers spoke with Sage Bava and I about her songwriting, her strong stand on gun control, her love of funk and much more.
Sage Bava: I’m so excited to hear this new music because we’ve heard so much from you and you have the most authentic voice, which baffles me to have the authenticity that you already do. I can’t wait to hear this new music because I feel like we’re really going to hear you. How do you feel releasing this project?
Grace Bowers: I am so excited to put it out because I feel like that’s the question that everyone’s asking me, “Where can I listen to your music?” I’m just excited to have this piece of work that I’m so proud of. I feel like it really captures everything that I’ve been inspired by with a modern take on it. I think it’ll be different too than what people might be expecting. It won’t be like blues rock, which I feel like a lot of people will think is something that I’m going to put out. It’s not really blues at all, so I’m excited for people to hear it and see what I’m talking about.
Steve Baltin: Your situation is so unique. The typical thing is, you do an album and then you go and you build the live base and you’ve already played shows to like hundreds of thousands of people.
Bowers: I’m definitely very lucky to have gotten all these amazing opportunities that have come to me. I think it also gives me a lot of advantages because I already have a following and honestly, it’s making things so much easier on me because it’s easier to promote and people are already supporting it before I even announced that I had music coming out. So, that’s great. Then it’s also been just amazing playing them live, especially after recording it because we had played all these songs for a long time before we took them into the studio. Then when we were recording them, that was the first time we weren’t in a live setting, and we had to do things on the spot. We could really sit with the songs and analyze them, so things changed. Then after changing them, we got to go and play it live, I think the best version possible of them. That’s been just amazing. It’s been very well. People have been enjoying it too, I think.
Baltin: Are there songs where the audience response surprised you?
Bowers: I think this song surprised me more so, what happens to the band when we play it, it’s called “Wine on Venus.” My nana was 100 years old when she passed away last year. She would always tell me that when she died, she would be drinking wine on Venus. She was also a little crazy, but [laughter] I thought that was just something so cool. When she passed, I wrote a song about it and when we play it live, it’s about 20 minutes long because something happens when we play that song. It’s just special, not only the lyrics, but I feel very musically connected to it too. We always play it last in our set because I just feel like people like that one the most. So that will actually be our second single, which hasn’t been announced yet, but I’m excited to put that one out.
Baltin: When you play the song, do you feel a deep connection with your grandmother?
Bowers: I do. I didn’t get to see her all that often. But a couple of days before she passed, I played guitar for her for the first time and it was just a really special memory. So, getting to write and then play a song about her, again, it’s not even directly about her, but I know it’s about her and it’s a very special song to me.
Baltin: Your grandmother was drinking wine on Venus. What do you think happens when we die? What do you think you’ll be drinking and what planet will you be drinking it on?
Bowers: Oh man, that’s a deep question [laughter]. I always say that I don’t think anything happens when we die. I like that because to some people that can sound very depressing. I don’t choose to look at it that way because if we don’t go anywhere after we die, we only have one shot here. That makes me appreciate things more. But I don’t know, after hearing my nana insist on her drinking wine on Venus, I hope that’s what she’s doing right now [laughter].
Bava: I’d love to know more about your writing process. Can you talk about like, writing that song and writing some of the other songs on the project?
Bowers: Honestly, most of the songs that will be on the record were written with me and Esther [Okai-Tetteh], my singer. They were literally written on my bedroom floor. I would play guitar and she’d be singing and that’s how a lot of them got written. Then once I took them to the band, we fleshed them out some more. Most of them were written just me and her. Then we wrote one with Maggie Rose. Then, yeah, the other ones were just kind of co-writes, but a good portion of it was written on my bedroom floor.
Bava: There are so many amazing writers and you’ve met and played with a lot of them. When they’re most connected to themself, that’s when the music literally flows through them. So, it’s such a beautiful picture to see you writing it on your bedroom floor. Was there a song in particular that you feel just materialized and flowed through you?
Bowers: We have one called “Madam President.” This was actually the one that we wrote with Maggie Rose. We probably knocked it out in less than two hours. It was such a fun song, and the lyrics were easy to write because we were writing about things that we wanted to see changed. That’s why it’s called “Madam President.” That was an easy thing to write about. There’s a lot of things that we want to see changed right now. So yeah, that was a fun ride.
Bava: So many artists hold service as a big point of inspiration and driving factor. Can you talk about how giving back in service inspires you? I can’t wait to hear that song because so many of us are on board, I’m sure.
Bowers: I’m actually in the middle of planning. Last year I did a benefit show. I live in Nashville and a year ago at the Covenant School, there was a shooting where three kids and three teachers died. That school is actually very close to where I live. I’m from California, so it was very different out there in regards to people’s attitudes. I feel like people out here are very close-minded. That’s not to say everyone is, but there’s definitely a big divide. It was weird for me moving out here and experiencing that firsthand. After the shooting happened, I wanted to have a voice. I wanted to take a stand and I got a lot of hateful comments about it online, a lot. I got some disgusting comments about it and that kind of motivated me more to do it. It was a huge success and I’m planning the next one right now. I’m 17, so I’m not in school anymore, I do it online. But I have two little brothers in school, and I don’t think anyone should have to go to school and have that thought in their mind that anyone could walk into their school with a gun. No one should ever have to experience that. Tennessee is trying to pass a bill that would allow teachers to be armed. It’s so frustrating. So, it is so important to speak up about it because if you don’t, nothing’s going to change.
Baltin: I love you stood your ground after the negative comments. Where did you get the motivation for that?
Bowers: I went to a lot of protests at the Capitol when it first happened. There were a lot of kids my age who were there as well and we’re the ones who can’t vote. I’ll be voting for the first time this year because I turn 18 in July. That is a great motivator for me. I love speaking up, getting other people my age to vote because a lot of us don’t. That is something that is so important and can stop these ridiculous bills from passing, especially in Nashville. Yeah, I was motivated just from all the hate comments I was getting. I was motivated by everyone telling me to shut up. I was motivated by everyone sending me just awful things. I’m like,”Iit was a big middle finger for me, for a good cause.” [laughter]
Bava: One of the wonderful parts of humanity is when somebody’s able to really tap into their authenticity and their voice because it allows so many to be able to do that as well. Can you talk about how that happened for you and when it happened?
Bowers: It’s been a journey because when I first started playing guitar, I was nine years old, and I’d say until I was like 13, it was kind of just something that I did. It was more of a hobby. Then COVID happened and I was locked in my room with nothing but a guitar [laughter]. I locked myself in my room for hours every day and became really connected to it, the more and more I learned about it and learned different music genres. I’ve never tried to copy anyone else. I take inspiration from a lot of places, but I try to turn that into my own thing. I’ll never try to sound like another guitar player. It’s been very cool finding my own voice, and especially with my new music coming out, it’s been cool being able to do my own thing.
Bava: In creating the sonic world for this new project, how did that sound come about since it’s not really rooted in blues or rock? Was it a lot of experimenting?
Bowers: It was a lot of listening and it’s still very much a throwback to older music. I’d say we were inspired the most by Sly and The Family Stone and Funkadelic. Those were our two main people we were looking at when we were making this. I would consider myself a blues guitar player. Does that mean that the music we’re making is blues? No, but obviously there’s going to be a lot of that that seeps through into it. Rock too. I would call some songs of ours rock. But I do think it’s a mixture of a little bit of everything and especially the band too. Our keyboard player has more of a fusion background and then the drummer grew up playing in church. Same with the singer. So, the band’s called The Hodge Podge for that reason. It’s all these different things being mixed together and making music out of it.
Baltin: What do you want people to take from the single when they hear it?
Bowers: I want it to get stuck in their heads [laughter]. I want it to make people feel good like it does for me.
Bava: I’m excited for the music and I’m so excited for your tour. What are you most excited about for your tour that’s coming up?
Bowers: We’re playing some really cool festivals. But most of all I’m just excited to be getting out there and playing all these places because this is my first time playing my own music. For the longest time I would play guitar for other people or be someone’s background guitar players. I’m moving away from that and I’m very excited.