“If you're an artist now, you have to be on social media. It's part of the game. You have to share what you're doing and essentially be a content creator and an artist at the same time.”

—  GRACE BOWERS

MELODIES IN RED VELVET

PHOTOGRAPHY KEVIN SINCLAIR

STYLING ORETTA CORBELLI

JOURNALIST DANIELA HERNANDEZ

It’s a moment of transition for Grace Bowers. The 18-year-old virtuoso guitar player recently released her very first album, Wine on Venus, an energetic, vulnerable tribute to the self-confidence music has gifted her. Playing the guitar morphed her from a shy child to an electric stage performer. In December, she won Variety's Hitmaker's Next Gen award, which honors up and coming artists. Almost overnight, she's gone from a virtual unknown to sharing the stage with Dolly Parton and other musical royalty. Through that shift, she keeps reminding herself (and the world) that her achievements aren’t the fruit of some genetic stroke of luck but the result of a lot of practice, lessons, and learning the fundamentals of music. And connection. (No, not that type. She’s the first in her family to take up music professionally.) Her career is rooted in a sense of, and search for, community that’s hard to miss when talking with her. She’s quick to credit Nashville’s supportive network of musicians for her budding stardom and to mention that music lets her connect to herself and to audiences worldwide in ways she couldn’t have imagined even a year ago. For Grace, playing guitar feels like a blend of personal meditation and communal salve for loneliness. Music has taught her lessons we all need to learn and could benefit from: to be more attuned to what other people are feeling and to be more present.

“Posting videos of myself pushed me out of my comfort zone. Stepping onto a stage did that even more.”

Daniela Hernandez __ This morning, I woke up, put on Spotify, turned on your music, and it pumped me up. What music do you put on in the morning to get you going?

Grace Bowers __ It depends on my mood. Some mornings, I don’t feel like listening to music. Other mornings, I'll listen to jazz, like old school jazz. If I do want to be pumped up, I'll put Parliament on or something like that.

DH __ Do you use music to transport you to different places or different moods?

GB __  Definitely. Or I may seek to enhance my mood. For example, if I'm feeling a certain way, I might put music on that reflects that. If I’m feeling sad, I might put the blues on or if I’m feeling happy I might put more upbeat music on.

DH __ Tell me about your creative process.

GB __  When I'm writing music, it either starts with a guitar riff or a lyrical idea or both. More often than not, it's a guitar riff, though. And then from there, I think ‘What do I want this song to say?’ or ‘What do I want it to be about?’ Most of the time the melody, and most of the lyrics, come after the music is already written.

DH __ You have a song about going back to California. Like you, I also grew up there but have left, and it transported me back. Can you tell me about it?

GB __  It's a Led Zeppelin cover. It's always been one of my favorite Led Zeppelin songs. When we play Going to California, it's a show-stopping moment because it's such an impactful song. There's something so beautiful about its melody and the different instruments it uses. I wouldn't normally play with a cello and a mandolin player, but it works. Being from California, that song is always going to be very special to me.

DH __ I gave myself away. I'm not a Led Zeppelin fan. I should have probably known that. [laughs]

GB __  Oh, no. You're good. [laughs]

DH __ Moving, especially when you're young, is a very big deal. Can you tell me about your family and your move from California to Nashville?

GB __  We moved towards the end of Covid. I have two little brothers, and the motivation was a different kind of life and better schools out here. We didn't move to Nashville for music. When we first moved over to Nashville, I hated it. I missed California and my friends so much. Then, I found this incredible musical community that wanted to support me. That’s when I started to fall in love with living in Nashville. Even though I still miss California and might move back someday, there’s truly nothing like Nashville. The people here, especially in the music scene, are so supportive; so much more than what I experienced in LA. There’s just a unique vibe here that you can’t find anywhere else.

DH __ Did adjusting to an unfamiliar place prepare you at all for fame?

GB __  I don't think anything can prepare you for that. I definitely didn't expect it to happen. When I  started recording videos, I was a very shy person. Posting videos of myself pushed me out of my comfort zone. Stepping onto a stage did that even more. Now I have this new sense of confidence and I feel like I know who I am.

DH __ What prompted you to post that first video?

GB __  Seeing other people my age or younger doing the same thing and being successful. Also, it was during Covid, so boredom. [laughs]

DH __ What kind of reaction did it get?

GB __  It didn't get very many views. I didn't show my face because I was too nervous.  My first video got 1 or 2 positive comments, but that showed me that people weren’t going to be absolutely horrible to me [laughs] and that it would be okay to post more so I kept going from there.

DH __ It sounds like you did it for yourself.

GB __  Yeah. I'm making music because I love it. I'm not making music because I think other people will love it, you know? I hope they do love it, but that's not the main reason why I'm doing it. I try to keep that perspective because it helps me stay grounded, you know? It reminds me of why I started doing this in the first place.

DH __ I heard an interesting interview where you talked about playing Wine on Venus on stage and how you and your band riffed on that song for 20 minutes. When you improv like that, what's going on for you emotionally?

GB __  It’s an outlet. That song is more on the soul side of things, and soul is very improv-based. Wine on Venus has so much space for musical freedom. We never play it the same way twice. That's what I love about it—that there's so much unknown when playing it. Something special happens every time we play it live. The whole room can feel it. I wrote that song for my grandma, who's now passed on, so I'm always going to think of her when we're playing it.

DH __ Tell me about the name and its connection to her.

GB __  We called her Nana because her side of the family is French Canadian. She was 100 years old when she passed away. One thing she would always say was, “Don't worry about me when I die because I'll be drinking wine on Venus because it's the brightest star.” I think that’s the coolest line ever. When she passed, my family went back to California for Christmas. It was the first Christmas without her. Everyone was talking about her, and that line kept getting brought up so I hung onto it. When I came back to Nashville, I decided to write a song about it.

DH __ What did you imagine when you were writing it?

GB __  If you're listening to it, you would never know it was written about my grandma because I don't outright say that. I wanted a more abstract take on that singular phrase, instead of making it about a person.

DH __ Do you have a musical memory that had a similarly deep impact on you?

GB __  Hearing B.B. King for the first time. I was sitting in my mom's car while she was running errands and the radio was playing Sweet Little Angel. That song starts out with like five notes and then goes into a blues melody. I had never heard anything like that before and it was a light bulb moment. From there, I started digging more into the blues and learning guitar.

DH __ In listening to your music, I got this very deep Carlos Santana vibe.   

GB __  Santana was definitely a big inspiration for my first album. I was obsessed with his first record. I loved the way that it started out instrumental and how the songs flowed into one another. On the funk side, Funkadelic made a big impact on me. I love their first three albums. Maggot Brain was a huge inspiration too. Sly and the Family Stone is also another favorite of mine.

DH __ You have an iconic guitar from 1961 that you play a lot. Why do you feel connected to that particular instrument?

GB __  It's a 1961 SG. It has a unique sound. I really connected to it because it was the first nice guitar I ever had. And it’s from 1961! So you’re essentially holding a piece of history in your hands while you play it, which I think is super cool. I’ve played probably hundreds of gigs with it, and it’s been through a lot with me. I definitely have a connection with that guitar.

DH __ There seems to be a few serendipitous moments in your life that led you to music, like moving to Nashville or randomly hearing B.B. King. If one or several of those hadn't happened, would you still be Grace Bowers, Musician? Or would you be someone completely different?

GB __  I wouldn't attribute my career to those things. They definitely played a big role. But more so, I think that if I hadn't pushed myself out of my comfort zone and I'd been too scared to post my videos, I wouldn't be where I am today.

DH __ Where did you get the courage to put yourself out there? A lot of people struggle with that.

GB __  I struggled with it. At first, it was very hard for me. But I'm also very driven about the things I want. I've always had that attitude, and I think it especially applies to music for me.

DH __ What were you working towards back then?

GB __  It wasn't ‘Oh, I want to be famous.’ That was never a thought in my mind. I think I wanted to find a community that would lift me up and guide me. Honestly, I'm not really sure what made me do it. There was a voice in my mind telling me, ‘You should do this.’

DH __ I can relate to that. During Covid, we were all feeling lonely and craving community.

GB __  It was hard. When I was living in California, I had two really good friends, and I wasn’t able to see them. Guitar was such a great outlet to have for loneliness and it became  something I wanted to share with other people.

DH __ Music is such a visceral way to connect. You don't even have to talk and maybe that makes it more powerful.

GB __  Absolutely.

DH __ You obviously care a lot about mental health. You’ve done benefits to raise money to provide therapy for people in need. Why is that a cause you care so much about?

GB __  It's something a lot of people struggle with, especially my age. It's hard to meet someone my age who doesn't struggle with mental health. I think it's important and that it should be normal to talk about it. A lot of people don't treat it that way. I want to keep the conversation open.

DH __ When people who have a platform, like you or Simone Biles, speak about mental health it does make it easier for others to do the same. I didn’t have that growing up, so it’s nice to see that now.

GB __  Thank you. I think it makes people feel safe in a way.

DH __ Were there specific feelings you were trying to imbue into this album?

GB __ I wanted to capture a ‘live’ feeling. I insisted that the band be in one room, where we could all be looking at each other. It makes it more intimate and soulful. There can be natural moments of making eye contact and saying words without actually saying words if you know what I mean. That's really special. It’s hard to put into words because it's more of a feeling you get when you're playing. And that translates into the final recording. For the album, the rhythm section was entirely recorded live—the drums, bass, rhythm guitar, that's all live, one take. That was very important to me when recording it.

DH __ Was it important to you because the foundation of your experience with music is building community?

GB __ Yeah. Before we even went into the studio, I told John, the producer, that's what I wanted and I wasn't going to record it otherwise. That's how important it was to me.

DH __ That takes a lot of guts and confidence. I also thought it was badass that you went without a label for this particular album.

GB __ It was definitely by choice. I wanted to be in control of my first ever record. I wanted to pick out what the album cover was going to be. I wanted to pick the order of the songs. In fact the album is entirely self-funded. I haven't made money off a show in a year because I’ve been using everything to pay for the production of the record . That’s one of those behind-the-scenes aspects people don’t often see. Touring without label support has been tough. Sometimes we’re spending ten-hour days in a van because there’s no budget for a tour bus. A label would cover things like that, but at the same time, I wanted to be in full control of my debut record. That’s not to say I don’t ever want a label, but for the first album, I wanted to do it this way.

DH __ That’s inspiring. We don’t always see the hard work and sacrifice that goes into putting something out, which is really important to acknowledge. It also helps people to not get discouraged.

GB __ Yeah, there's a lot of hard work that goes on behind the scenes.

DH __ I was curious about your use of tech and social media to launch your career.

GB __ If you're an artist now, you have to be on social media. It's part of the game. You have to share what you're doing and essentially be a content creator and an artist at the same time. That's something I've definitely used to my advantage. I don't think I would have gotten half the opportunities I've received if I didn't have a presence on social media. It's also cool for people who don't live in the US, who can't see me on tour here, to be able to keep up online. I like having that connection with fans, even when they live far away.

DH __ Have you discovered other artists or creators on social media?

GB __ So many. First of all, that's how I found local musicians in Nashville. I would shoot them a DM asking to write or to jam with them. I’ve also found so many new artists I love and listen to every day through Instagram or TikTok. It is a great way to discover new music and artists who are rising up.

DH __ Like who?

GB __ Oh, gosh, I'm gonna have to go through my Spotify real quick. I’m obsessed with MonoNeon’s Instagram. He is one of the goofiest, best bass players I've ever heard. I just love his Instagram. There's also this girl Bella Moulden. She plays a double neck guitar. She's a badass too.

DH __ You mentioned you liked being connected to other people all over the world. Is there somewhere that you want to travel to, specifically to get a sense of the local music and learn from that?

GB __ I really want to go to Europe. We just got back from doing five shows in Japan, and that was not enough. I want to go back. That's definitely on my bucket list right now. Oh and Norway would be sick.

DH __ What about Norway draws you in?

GB __  The people there are happy, and it looks very pretty. I just want to experience that.

DH __ I get that. And then, just one more question looking toward the future. What advice would you give 28-year-old Grace?

GB __  Oh, Gosh. Usually it's the other way around, giving advice to your younger self. No one's ever asked me that before. I don't know where I'll be in ten years. Hopefully doing cool shit, but, honestly, I would probably tell myself the same thing I would tell younger me: “Just do your thing and don't care what other people are saying about it.”

Photography & Video Kevin Sinclair, Fashion Editor Oretta Corbelli, Interview Daniela Hernandez, Hair Lisa Bowers, Makeup Melissa Rogers (The Only Agency), Production David Gargiulo, Talent Grace Bowers.