Nashville’s new guitar hero and her band, The Hodge Podge, played “Tell Me Why U Do That”
Sure, you make your A late-night television debut is nice, but you don’t know you’ve made it until your name is announced in the sweet voice of Jeff Goldblum.
Nashville’s new guitar heroine, 18-year-old Grace Bowers, performed with her band The Hodge Podge on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Monday night when she sang a funky version of her song “Tell Me Why U Do That.” It was a fun, relaxed performance – the track appears on the new album by Bowers and the Hodge Podge Wine on Venus — that made it clear why there is so much excitement about the Californian musician in Nashville.
Playing her Gibson SG, which she wore over her shoulder with a strap that read “Vote,” Bowers cut a stoic figure, the cool, calm complement to The Hodge Podge’s fiery singer, Esther Okai-Teteh.
Bowers and the band released their debut LP, Wine on Venusproduced by John Osborne, guitarist of the Brothers Osborne, last week. She will compete for the title of Instrumentalist of the Year at the 2024 Americana Music Association Honors & Awards in Nashville next month.
Since her first performance last year, Bowers has seen her rise through various stage appearances: She played the 2023 Newport Folk Festival, jammed with Lainey Wilson at Nashville’s New Year’s Eve party in December and headlined her own gun violence benefit concert at Nashville’s Brooklyn Bowl this summer. She’ll play an album release show at Los Angeles’ Desert 5 Spot on Tuesday night and open for Gary Clark Jr. and the Red Clay Strays in September.
And now she’s heard Goldblum — one of Kimmel’s guest hosts while the comedian is off for the summer — introduce her in his own idiosyncratic way.
Grace Bowers (@gracebowers)
