Grace Bowers is showing no signs of slowing down. Peter Frampton recently named her as one of his favorite rising guitar stars, calling her “a wonderful, wonderful talent” – now, Bowers has continued to build her already hefty résumé by playing alongside the veteran electric guitar legend himself, as well as Phish's Trey Anastasio, at the Love Rocks NYC benefit concert at The Beacon Theater on March 6.
The three guitarists joined forces for a heartfelt rendition of The Beatles' While My Guitar Gently Weeps – which, as one might expect from such a powerful trio, was anything but short on guitar solos.
“[I'm] a huge, huge fan of both of them. One is a lady that is going to be on your mind for the rest of the weekend because she is an incredible player, [and] one of the up-and-coming phenomenal players. I've known her for a while now, and her name is Grace Bowers,” Frampton says in a fan-recorded video.
“This gentleman that I've always wanted to meet and play with, he has an album called Hampton Comes Alive,” Frampton continues, referring to Phish's live album, whose title is a play on 1976's Frampton Comes Alive! “Please welcome Trey Anastasio.”
What followed was a 10-minute-plus guitar extravaganza of the Beatles classic, which Anastasio and Frampton kicked off with an improvised duet before Bowers joined in.
Armed with her trusty Gibson SG, she delivered a masterclass in soloing, visibly impressing both Anastasio and Frampton. From their end, Anastasio and Frampton showcased their staying power, taking turns flexing their unique approach to solos – Anastasio on his Languedoc and Frampton on his Phenix Les Paul – before culminating in a soaring crescendo that saw all three guitarists bursting into a jam.
Frampton's performance in New York follows his recent appearance at NAMM, where he continued to open up about his decision to tour despite his inclusion body myositis (IBM) diagnosis back in 2015.
However, in order to do so, Frampton revealed to Guitar World the ways he has evolved his playing to overcome the challenges posed by the condition.
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