It's safe to say that, as far as newer faces go, Grace Bowers has risen to the upper echelons of the guitar world – with a Grammy performance, accolades, late-night talk show appearances, and nods from Dolly Parton, Lainey Wilson, Susan Tedeschi, Devon Allman, and a string of other big names under her belt.
However, while Bowers cut her teeth playing blues, her debut album, Wine on Venus, suggests she may be moving beyond that label and into pastures new.
“I get the label as a blues rock artist a lot, and I hate that,” she tells Cory Wong on his Wong Notes podcast. “That's not the type of music I make, nor is it the kind of music I listen to. Not to rag on people who do make blues rock music, but it's so overdone right now.
“I'm trying so hard to stray away from it, especially with our live shows. It's very much like more funk and soul-based, rather than blues and rock. And there's definitely still elements of that in there.
“But I can't stand that label, and it doesn't help being a quote/unquote Instagram guitarist either, because that's what most Instagram guitarists are, more than likely, blues players, and I just feel like that's so limiting being labeled as that.”
As to why people have imprinted blues rock onto her playing and music, Bowers admits that a lot of the videos she posted a year or two ago were more blues-leaning, simply because that’s what she was listening to at the time. However, as was the case with her playing, her listening palette has also expanded.
“I'm still learning every day and practicing, but it's not blues anymore at all. And listening to our record that might be a bit hard to hear, but our live shows are definitely not blues or rock.”
“What would you call it?” asks Wong.
“Funk and soul, with some rock thrown in,” she asserts. “I mean, there's definitely still a blues influence behind all that. That's what got me started playing guitar. So, of course, it's going to come out quite a bit, but I would label it more funk and soul.”
That said, Bowers recently named her favorite guitar player of all time – and it's a legendary player from the blues-rock stable.
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