Despite being just 18 years old, generational electric guitar talent Grace Bowers has already played with some of the best in the business. She’s now added to her already impressive resume after joining alt-rockers All-American Rejects at a Nashville house party – and she’s gone full shred for it.
From recent guest spots covering a solo-lavished Beatles classic with Peter Frampton and Trey Anastasio, to playing at the Grammys with Coldplay frontman Chris Martin and making her Jimmy Kimmel debut, no stage seems to phase the wunderkind.
Yet, while she is widely revered for her flawless blues rock chops, Bowers has rarely been seen letting loose on a fretboard quite like this.
Armed with one of her many trusted Gibson SGs, Bowers rips through lick after lick amid a storm of camera flashes and screaming fans. She stops just short of blasting through some two-hand taps, but, if this guest spot is anything to go by, we imagine it won’t be long before such fiery fretboard pyrotechnics soon find their way into her playing.
Even with the brakes off as they are here, Bowers’ contributions remain tasteful, especially when bass player Tyson Ritter bellows out the song’s chorus. She plays in the spaces rather than fighting him in the mix.
The show looks like a riot. It’s no surprise, then, that she posted about the spot later on with the caption, “Not forgetting this one anytime soon.”
It’s also a statement solo from Bowers, who has previously gone on record to voice her intention to break out of the blues box that many listeners have put her in. Her plans to venture into other genres looks to be well and truly underway.
“I love the blues. It’s what got me into guitar,” she told Guitar World last year. “But if I’m in my car listening to music, I’m not listening to blues. I’m still very blues-influenced, and as you can hear in my playing, it’s an inspiration to me. But it’s not what I wanted to be boxed into because there’s other things to be done.
“I’ve been really into Cory Henry. I love Anderson .Paak, and Bruno Mars is great. I already want to make another record; I just don’t have the money right now. But if I did, it would have a more modern sound.”
The surprise link-up, which further distances Bowers from the blues, came during the band’s current house party tour. Speaking about the concept to CNN, Ritter says it was “born out of a pure, intentional moment of ‘Let’s go have fun and get back to the way we started.’ 30 feet away on an ivory tower it’s hard to connect with an audience. This was a way to embrace that spirit again.”
But the tour isn’t without its classic house party problems. The cops shut down their Missouri show – but gave the band permission to play one more song before the plug was pulled.
