“I get disrespected before I even play”: Guitar prodigy Grace Bowers on how she’s won over the critics who underestimate her

Grace Bowers has had what can only be described as an absolute whirlwind of a year. At 18, the fast-rising guitar sensation released her debut album, Wine on Venus, made her late-night TV debut on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, performed The Star-Spangled Banner at a stadium, joined forces with Gary Clark Jr. and Marcus King, played in the house band for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and met her all-time guitar hero, Slash — to name just a few highlights.

Despite these stunning achievements – all while she’s still in her teens – Bowers admits she’s still underestimated and struggles with being disrespected in the industry.

“I get disrespected before I even play,” she tells Guitar World. “People take one look at me, [see] a young female and immediately get a thought in their head of what I am, and they don’t take me as seriously as they should.

“For the most part, I feel equal. But there’s been a lot of times when I feel disrespected or lesser, which is not cool. At the same time, being young and a girl is an advantage. There’s a lot of other people who are in that position, so I view it as an advantage — and a disadvantage.”

Bowers also opened up about her decision to release her album independently – no easy feat considering the costs involved, and even more admirable given the opportunities she wrangled as a result.

“I’m still paying off the record we made,” she asserts. “People online are like, ‘Her parents paid for it,’ ‘She comes from a rich background’ or ‘Her family was in the music business.’ None of that’s true.”

“This record was self-funded. I have a distribution company that has helped me, but people don’t see how hard it is to do this by yourself without a whole lot of guidance.

“With every single show I play, I’m not seeing any of that money because it’s going toward the record. That’s how much I believed in it. I was willing to make that kind of sacrifice because it was something I really wanted to do.”

For more from Grace Bowers, plus new interviews with Matteo Mancuso and Duane Denison, pick up issue 586 of Guitar World at Magazines Direct.