Artist description Acoustic 3-part harmony family band.

Music Style Acoustic Pop, Country & Folk

Musical Influences The Byrds, The Beatles, Crosby-Stills-Nash-Young-etc., Nanci Griffith, The Moody Blues, Buck Owens, Patsy Cline, The Dillards, The Everly Brothers, Gram Parsons, R.E.M., Eagles... Shucks, a whole lot of folks!

Similar Artists CSN minus the Flower Power, a little more country.

Artist History The Bowdens are a family trio consisting of Billie Bowden, his son Mark, and daughter Kerry. Our musical roots and influences are many and sundry - from Buck Owens to the Byrds, from Nanci Griffith to REM, from Mötley Crüe to 2 Live Crew... Okay, just kidding about that last part. But you never know WHAT we'll come up with sometimes. Oh, and you get special bonus credit if you know who the Nurk Twins are. But the point is, The Bowdens draw on a variety of musical styles from several decades worth of material, giving us a repertoire which has something for everybody. We then proceed to boil each song down to its musical core with twin acoustic guitars and sometimes-pretty-elaborate vocal harmonies, with that special blend that somehow always seems to come naturally for "family" groups. As a trio, The Bowdens have been performing only since, well, last week, but each of the family members have illustrious musical backgrounds. In fact, they’ve all enjoyed time in some of Southern Illinois’ most dedicated bands. Billie has performed with dozens of Carbondale, Illinois groups - blues, country-rock, bluegrass: You name it, he's probably played it! Most recently, though, he's focused on acoustic-based music with a specific emphasis on vocal harmony. Collaborations with other likeminded local musicians have produced some of Southern Illinois's finest musical moments in groups like Full Circle, Acoustically Inclined, and the Brushpoppers. It was in the late 1990's, though, that brought his daughter Kerry into the musical spotlight with him and bandmate Becki Dielfield, to form the popular trio Ear-Relevant. ER enjoyed a four-year tenure, until circumstances prevailed upon Becki to relocate in 2001. As something like Serendipity would have it, though, Billie's son Mark found himself with a little more time to spare (having recently quit his day job), and the two set to work recording some of Billie's original compositions and favorite covers in Mark's budget-conscious home studio. As work progressed, however, Kerry stepped in as a catalyst (or would that be an enzyme?) to forward the obvious suggestion: Why don't they all perform together as a trio? The three got busy assembling a repertoire of songs they'd each collected over the years, as well as some new favorites, and the finished product - well, decide for yourself. We think it's just too cool!

Group Members Billie Bowden: Acoustic guitar, vocal, and occasional yodeling / Kerry Bowden: Vocal and maraca-like percussion instruments / Mark Bowden: Acoustic guitar, vocal, and cheap wisecracks

Instruments Twin acoustic guitars and 3-part harmony vocals

Location Carbondale, IL - USA

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