When she was nine years old, Grace Bowers had dreams of hair metal glory. “I was totally into Winger, Ratt, Warrant, Poison – just the cheesiest bands imaginable,” she says. “I persuaded my mom to buy me a guitar, only she got me an acoustic. She didn’t think I’d stick with it, so she went for the cheapest thing the store had.”
The pre-teen shred wannabe tried in vain to master lightning-fast licks, but her musical ambitions changed one day while she and her mother were in the car running errands.
Bowers flipped through radio stations and landed on a blues channel, and that’s when she first heard B.B. King playing Sweet Little Angel. “I thought, ‘He says more in five notes than the metal guys can with a million notes,” she says. “All at once I said, ‘That’s what I want to do.’”
With a clear-eyed focus and a preternatural dose of confidence, she did just that. Today, 18-year-old Bowers is making waves as one of the hottest young guitarists around, and she leads her own band, the Hodge Podge, that specializes in soulful, rock-funk jams.
The group’s debut album, Wine on Venus – produced by guitarist John Osborne, half of the Brothers Osborne – is a non-stop party, brimming with feel-good originals that recall the sound and spirit of bands like Parliament-Funkadelic and Sly and the Family Stone (there’s even a knockout cover of Sly’s Dance to the Music).
“I feel like an old soul in a young body,” Bowers says. “People tell me I was born in the wrong era, but I think the reverse is true. I love music from the ’60s and ’70s, and I want to update it for current times. I see people my own age in the audience, and their minds are blown. I’m making this stuff sound new to them.”
Blues is a big influence, but I got more into players like Leslie West. Leslie is my absolute favorite guitar player
You were inspired by B.B. King, but you didn’t go down the trad-blues rabbit hole.
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“Not so much. Blues is a big influence, but I got more into players like Leslie West. Leslie is my absolute favorite guitar player. Then I got into a lot of late ’60s classic rock, but after a while I really went for Funkadelic, Sly and the Family Stone and Buddy Miles.”
You’ve been called a prodigy.
“I know, but I’m not a natural by any means. I’ve put hours and hours into practicing. I still practice every single day, or at least I play guitar every day. This is still a learning process for me.”
When and how did you make the leap to go pro? Were your parents on board?
“It started a few years ago when my family moved from California to Nashville. I thought I’d be a bedroom player my whole life, but I discovered this amazing music scene in Nashville. People started inviting me on stage, and pretty soon I was going to these dive bars and sitting in with people. If I wasn’t playing, I was watching somebody else on stage.”
Wait a second. You were playing in bars while underage? Did your parents have to accompany you?
“They would come with me and stay for a while, but after a bit they’d be like, ‘We’re done.’ I’d stay kind of late, but I never did anything stupid. I wasn’t out trying to buy drinks or anything like that. Venue owners broke the rules to let me play, but sometimes I got kicked out for being underage.”
There’s a maturity to your playing way beyond your years. You make short, punchy statements when you solo, but you don’t ramble on endlessly.
“That comes from a lot of listening. When I’m on stage, I step back and listen to the band, and I always try to serve the song. Sometimes that means not soloing – I’ll just play some rhythm. When I do solo, I try to build it and make it mean something.”
Your band is composed of musicians older than you. How did you develop leadership skills so quickly?
“My band makes it easy because everyone is just such a monster musician. There’s a lot of eye contact between us on stage. Sometimes I’ll cue them to go to the bridge or the chorus, but they’re so good that I rarely have to tell them anything. We have a strong musical connection without a lot of words exchanged.”
You’re an easygoing, diplomatic leader.
“[Laughs] Kind of, yeah.”
What was it like working with your producer, John Osborne?
“Fantastic. John is one of the best guitar players out there. He was brilliant in the studio, and I couldn’t imagine making this record with anybody else. He totally understood the sound I was going for. He was open to all my ideas, and he had great ideas of his own. We worked really well together.”
You seem to enjoy playing around with feedback and sustain. I hear a Hendrix influence.
“Hendrix, for sure. Eddie Hazel is another big inspiration, and I love Carlos Santana.”
What made you gravitate to a Gibson SG? Is that pretty much your go-to guitar?
“It is. I have three SGs. Gibson sent me two new ones a month ago. I have a 1961 SG, and that’s my favorite. At first, I started playing SGs because they look cool and they’re lightweight. But then I discovered how I had full access to the neck, which I didn’t have on a Les Paul. I think they sound good, too; those P-90 pickups are something else.”
- Wine on Venus is out now.
