Musical Influences...Let's start with Jesus and God, who are the reason I'm able to sing and play at all as a matter of fact. It sure isn't my doing. They gave me a gift and a few years ago I traded in my guns and gear for a guitar and a microphone. Something else influenced me... and now this is the plan and the road I will travel. Who inspires me down this road? I have a few singers, a few songwriters and instructors to mention. I'm under the influences of: Hank Williams, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, George Strait, Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash, Hank Willaims Jr, Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, Chips Moman, Kris Kristopherson, Dwight Yoakam, Buck Owens, Tom Russell, Billy Joe Shaver, John Prine, Jim Croce, Johnny Paycheck, Jimmy Buffet, George Jones, Alan Jackson, Chris Ledoux, Charlie Daniels, Bob Wills, Hank Thomspson, Ray Charles, Toby Keith, Hoyt Axton, David Allan Coe, Hank Williams III, Jamey Johnson, Jerry Reed, Gene Watson, Keith Whitley, Gary Allan, Dierks Bentley, Kevin Fowler, Gary P. Nunn, Robert Earl Keen, David Gray, Rivers Rutherford, Chris Isaak, Dean Dillon, Scotty Emerick, Shooter Jennings, Steve Earle, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Marshall Tucker Band, The Allman Brothers, The Steve Miller Band and my SPC music professors - John Hartin, Joe Carr, Mike Carraway, Scott Faris, Jay Lemon, Ed Marsh, Tim McCasland, Steve Williams, Matt Quick, Lesa Wood, Mickey Vasques. Check out the bands and talents on my top friends, they are a great influence too! Folks like Ryan T. Briggs, Wes Nickson, Danny Cadra, Cami Stinson, Macy Hill, Bobby Bookout, Megan Laurie, Sunny Helms, Matt Jenkins, Carrie Rucker, The Lightfoot Band, Cellus and The Loose Grip, Loss Rayne, The Spring Creek Bluegrass Band,....we all came from the classrooms of South Plains College. I gotta be leaving some out, the list is long yet distinguished./////////
Favorite authors: John Fante, Charles "Hank" Bukowski, Carson McCullers, Larry McMurtry, John Steinbeck, Louis L'Amour, William Least Heatmoon, Kinky Friedman//////////
Favorite artists: Utopia Joe (Joe Bohrer) and Rockabilly Angel (Tiffany Bohrer)//////////
Favorite Songs: "Modern Day Drifter" (Dierks Bentley), "Final Attaction" (Kris Kristopherson), "Ramblin' Fever" (Merle Haggard), "On The Road Again" (Willie Nelson), "The Ride" (David Allan Coe), "Ramblin Man" (Hank Williams), "I've Always Been Crazy" (Waylon Jennings), "I Got A Name" (Jim Croce), "Wait a Minute" (Seldom Scene), "Willin' "(Little Feat), "When It Rains" (Eli Young Band) are songs I relate the most with. Some of them just really kick me in the gut, like someone's been reading my mail./////////
My Favorite listens when I'm on the road: The Tom Russell CD, 'Hot Walker' and Willie Nelson's 'The Red Headed Stranger' album.
Matt Bowlin is a music-driven nomad in pursuit of a dream. After serving six years in the Armed Forces (U.S.M.C), Matt left a promising career in the military to gamble on a different roll, one in the music business.
"I started writing lyrics about a year before my second enlistment was up," Matt explained, "Until then, it was an undiscovered God given gift and I figured I'd better do something with it. I wanted to learn to play the guitar, study voice, learn to perform and I remembered a college where you could learn to do just that.”
Heading west into the sun and arriving on the Llano Estacado of west Texas, Matt enrolled in the commercial music program at South Plains College in Levelland. The college commercial music program is credited with alumnus such as, LeAnne Womack, Heath Wright (Richochet), Jedd Hughes, Natalie Maines (Dixie Chicks), and many more. Switching gears from guns to guitars, Matt studied Speech Level Singing (technique method by Seth Riggs) and performed with S.P.C.’s ‘Thursday Nite Live’, one of the college’s most prestigious audition ensembles. Somewhere between then and there, Matt broadened his performing style, and navigated towards Western Swing and was awarded S.P.C.'s 2004-2005 Male Vocalist of the Year in Country/Western Swing.
Accelerated under the influence by the late Waylon Jennings, American Icon, Willie Nelson, Texas balladeer George Strait and songwriters Jim Croce and Kris Kristopherson, Matt’s booming baritone voice fuses the sounds of traditional country, western swing, folk and southern rock. Bowlin’s versatility allows him to cover a range of classics and new-age as well as his own songs.
"I started singing more of my originals after a floor-thumping experience in Luckenbach, Texas, a town made famous by the 1977 number one hit," Matt explains, "The bartender talked me into picking up the house guitar and singing a tune. It's like a tradition down there to pass around the house guitar. Everyone plays." The song Matt sang, "Honky Tonk Fate" (an original), revved up tourists and locals alike. "In a music mecca like Luckenbach, it was amazing to have people clapping, stomping, playing guitars and singing along on the chorus. It was a rush, Matt says." I was thrilled they were into the song. It was about the best compliment I could have received."
Since his experiences in Luckenbach and Levelland, Matt has rambled on to write and perform his music in traveling bands. He has been on the road consistently since the spring of 2006, performing in Arizona, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, Wyoming, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and Tennessee. He was a district finalist for Nashville Star in 2006, opened shows for Flynnville Train (ShowDogRecords) and Cody McCarver (PLC Records) in 2007, and legendary greats, B.J. Thomas and Billy Joe Royal.
“Opening a show like that was the privilege of a lifetime,” Bowlin said. Chips Moman handed him that opportunity after hearing Matt sing a few duets with another singer at the 2007 National Cornbread Festival. “We were having fun with some oldies and Chips happened to be there,” Bowlin recalled. “He asked Garrett Miles and I if we’d like to come down to La Grange and open for B.J. and Billy Joe with the Memphis Boys as the house band. Jumping at the opportunity, sharing the stage that night I thought, ‘wow, this is the life for me!”
oh, oh - btw, any text from YOU qualfies as "cool & inspirational" lines!!!! Oh my dear troubador, your music & lyrics speak the language of angels spiced by demons!!!!! (o, oh -- use that quote on your next album liner -- BUT, credit it to "miss mimi ?;^)" after all, i am a copyrighted brand name. :)
well, little darlin' -- in our neck of the weeks its called panhandling! :) just kidding - cool! -- what did you play for them?Good to hear you are having a fine old time - a little relaxation is just what mimi ordered! ;) xo
...time to rise & shine, pardner -- enough of those late-night toots! all it takes is plenty of good old fashioned gumption and lots & lots of KAW-FEE (nj twang, there!) xo mimi ps - hope you're having FUN!!!!! ;)
happy 4th, cowboy -- as you can see, i have my hands full with my annual firework display -- hope you have a great trip -- looking forward to that CD! xo mimi
hey there troubadour -- that is a REALLY bad rhyme - and somewhat of a lift from some other guy! xoxo hope all is well - we are waiting for the cd to go public! ?;^)
from what i hear, T&R are having a ball with the music festivities in Chatt! lucky little devils!!! sounds like fun in cali - a well-deserved break for you, i'd say! nyc has turned into waterworld -- it has rained almost everyday since end of april -- torrential rains and HAIL that piled up 2 feet -- shades of kansas!!!!! big problem is it is holding up the progress on the house - oh well, what will be, will be -- have fun, be safe, stay cool ?;^)
Glad to finally meet you. Looking forward to maybe doing some work together with Joe. Take care man. We'll see ya soon. LURE -Ty, Eric, Kriss, Chancellor
Things are going great for us! We have been having alot of fun as a couple and as a family. Which as be amazing!!! When ya coming back to Oklahoma? And when the heck is the cd coming out???
new CD is amazing! Your voice is unmatched in the AssKick department. I want to return to earth in 200 years just to hand your CD to someone and say "hey man, this is how things were done in our time!" some haunting and vivid storytelling Matt- I felt the hairs on my back stand up all the way to the Red River. Thanks a lot for the trip up there, love ya much buddy!
Online Now!
