Grace Bowers’ career is rapidly taking off, earning praise from blues legends like Devon Allman and Susan Tedeschi for her exceptional guitar skills. The 18-year-old guitarist has quickly become one of modern blues’ most exciting new players, though she remains humble about her abilities.
“People call me a prodigy a lot and it’s entirely not true, because for the first three years I was so bad. I was awful,” Bowers shared in an interview with The Bluegrass Situation. “And I wasn’t even really passionate about it. It was just kind of something that I did. I never really practiced or dug into other music styles.”
At age 13, Bowers’ perspective on the guitar changed after hearing B.B. King’s “Sweet Little Angel.” Its opening three notes immediately captured her attention, coinciding with the global lockdown due to COVID-19.
“Then COVID happened and I was locked in my room with nothing but a guitar,” she told Forbes, laughing. “I locked myself in my room for hours every day and became really connected to it, the more and more I learned about it and learned different music genres.”
Since then, Bowers has developed her own unique style, stating, “I’ve never tried to copy anyone else. I take inspiration from a lot of places, but I try to turn that into my own thing.”
Her personal style has led to opportunities to perform with music icons, including the Allman Betts Family Revival tour, where Guitar Player caught up with her. This powerful tribute show concluded at San Francisco’s Fillmore on December 21, 2024. As part of the tour, Guitar Player assisted in sourcing a Fender Twin amplifier for Bowers. Once the gear was delivered, she eagerly shared insights into her pedalboard setup while demonstrating her funky rhythm playing.
In the video, Bowers walks through her gear, which includes a Gibson Murphy Lab SG, the Fender Twin amp, and the following pedals: Vox Wah, D’Addario CT-20 Chromatic Tuner Plus, Electro-Harmonix Pico POG Polyphonic Octave Generator, Analog Man King of Tone Overdrive, Tsakalis AudioWorks Phonkify Envelope Filter/Wah/Octaver, EarthQuaker Devices Tone Job EQ & Boost, Dunlop EP103 Echoplex Delay, and Dunlop MXR M148 Micro Chorus.
Bowers has also been making headlines for her personal journey. She recently revealed that the song that inspired her to start playing guitar at age nine has shaped her career. Additionally, she shared her experiences dealing with criticism, especially as a young female guitarist.
“I get disrespected before I even play,” Bowers told Guitar World. “People take one look at me, 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.”
Instead of letting the negativity affect her, Bowers focuses on the positives of her position in today’s guitar scene. “I see people my own age in the audience, and their minds are blown,” she says. “I’m making this stuff sound new to them.”
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