Grace Bowers earned a reputation as a guitar prodigy who began playing when she was just nine years old. She posted videos of her performances and gained a following as a young teen during the pandemic. She moved from California to Nashville and made her Grand Ole Opry debut on her 18th birthday in 2024. She was nominated for the Americana Music Association Instrumentalist of the Year award during the same year. She’s performed with notable artists such as Dolly Parton, Gary Clark Jr., Peter Frampton, Trey Anastasio, and Chris Martin. Her band, Grace Bowers & The Hodge Podge, earned critical acclaim for their mix of blues, funk, rock, and soul.
That was then; this is now. Bowers has punked out. Her latest EP features short, staccato, grungy electric-guitar riffs, lots of shredding, pounding drums and bass, and a sneering attitude. She sings in a loud, confrontational voice that demands to be heard.
Bowers puts herself up front and in your face. Punk walks a thin line between pop and parody. Just ask the Ramones or the Offspring, who have had success with both audiences. The songs on Grace would be right at home in the 1990s with those bands. That Don Henley line about seeing a Deadhead sticker on a Cadillac might be better updated to viewing a Nirvana T-shirt on a toddler; nostalgia ensures you can never truly go back. This pop punk still sounds comfortable today.
These seven tracks are relatively short and radio-friendly. They are energetic, frenzied to a point, and end as soon as they’re over. Bowers’ guitar skills grab your attention, but the songs are more than feedback-driven, fuzzy electric monsters. In the press notes, the musician said a year ago that she wouldn’t sing live in concert. Now, that’s her favorite part. That shows here. She sounds like she is having a good time, even when having doubts about her life, like on “19”. She’s proud and loud.
The other songs generally offer self-mocking takes on other people’s foibles. She judges less than she observes. She wonders, with her tongue in cheek, why people make sacrifices for success (“Holly Wouldn’t”), beauty (“Cigarettes for Breakfast”), or to get laid (“Fleas”). The heavy musical accompaniment works like a heavy black crayon outline on a construction paper drawing. The image stands out in its simplicity, and something about it feels naive.
Grace Bowers is only 20 years old. Her lack of sophistication shouldn’t be a surprise. Her youth works to her advantage. The rock ‘n’ roll motto across generations is that the adult world sucks. That’s as true today as it was in Buddy Holly’s time. Bowers confronts the hypocrisy of those who flatter her on “Eat Shit and Die” and expresses her contempt for those who have it all on “Outta Sight Outta Mind”. We have heard these themes before. It’s the same story told freshly over the seductive sounds of an electric guitar and a four-four beat. That is still cool. Let’s rock!