Grace Bowers: the guitarist Nancy Wilson compared to David Gilmour and Eric Clapton
Robin Hood had his bow, the Duke of Wellington had a sword, and Leatherface had his chainsaw, but within the world of rock and roll, the guitar has always been the weapon of choice. From the very early days of the genre, nothing captured the rebellion and self-expression of rock quite like the humble six-string. The hard rock scene that emerged during the 1970s, in particular, prioritised complex riffs, distortion, and shredding, something which Heart guitarist Nancy Wilson has become intimately familiar with over the course of her extensive career.
It was during the 1970s that the rock landscape was first introduced to the distinctive tones of Wilson’s guitar-playing, when Heart began to make an impact on the rock mainstream. At that time, there were very few women in mainstream hard rock, and female lead guitarists were even fewer and farther between. It was down to Wilson and her sister, Ann, to pave the way for future generations of women in hard rock, and they did just that. By the end of the 1970s, Heart were firmly on the upper echelon of mainstream American rock, thanks to a string of records which managed to balance commercial appeal with incredible hard rock mastery.
Wilson’s guitar playing was always at the centre of Heart’s enduring appeal in rock, and her playing style allowed her to stand out from the crowd, which is particularly impressive given just how saturated the American rock scene of the 1970s was. Of course, there are numerous different types of guitar players, ranging from the underappreciated rhythm guitarists to the self-aggrandising shredders who often dominate the conversation when it comes to hard rock.
The Heart guitarist lies somewhere between those two ends of the spectrum, more than capable of rattling off an awe-inspiring guitar solo, but often preferring to adopt a more expansive style, incorporating elements of classical music into her work. Still, like every other hard rock artist, Wilson has always maintained a healthy appreciation for a shredding guitar solo’s complex and captivating sounds.
Guitar solos always seem to bring up the same few names – the likes of Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, or Jimmy Page being prominent examples. For Wilson, though, her tastes are a little more contemporary. While there is no denying the genius of those iconic players, there are countless modern guitarists who rarely get a look-in, despite their clear skill and talent. One such figure, at least in the mind of Nancy Wilson, is the Nashville-based teenage prodigy, Grace Bowers.
“There’s so many women right now that are younger women coming up that are just shredders, like Grace Bowers, for example,” the Heart guitarist declared on the Broken Record podcast. The 19-year-old guitarist cut her teeth playing blues-infused rock in the nightclubs of Nashville, quickly rising through the ranks of rock owing to the intensity of her talents, particularly at such a young age. “She is kind of a Clapton-type shredder,” Wilson continued, bestowing one of the greatest compliments a guitarist could ever hope to hear.
Continuing, Wilson shared, “She’s a blues player who, instead of for the quantity of notes, she plays for the quality of the expression of the notes that she chooses that sound more like sentences than show off stuff.” Elsewhere, during an interview with Total Guitar, Wilson compared Bowers to another legendary guitarist of a very different ilk. “She has a significant voice,” she said. “I would pick her out in a crowd of shredders, like, ‘Oh, I know who that is,’ like David Gilmour. You could shred ’til kingdom come, but it doesn’t stick until there’s a conversation going on.”
There aren’t many guitarists who could, with equal justification, be compared to the groundbreaking compositions of both Eric Clapton and the Pink Floyd guitarist, but Bowers is seemingly one of them. Having unleashed her debut album, Wine On Venus, only last year, it seems as though her skill and notoriety will only increase, too.
