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 the Singer, Songwriter & Celebrity Co-Star on PBS - Reality TV Show "UTOPIA JOE", 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!”
I've just gotten around to listening to your songs, great work I hope it takes you far, man.
Unlike some others, I remember when you first picked up that dream. Sitting at your desk at the battalion H&S company S4 office. I remember when you would pull out that guitar in your cammies and strum a few chords. It was cool.
Glad to see what you are doing now. My wife is just learning to play guitar, she already sings worship songs at our church. I am the video editor/producer for our church's cable television program now. Its been a long road.
You know, I never thanked you for thowing me into that wall locker and threatening to beat the s--t out of me, what, nine years ago now? Well, it took a long time to affect me, but looking back now I am thankful that people cared, even when I didn't.
Anyway, the best blessings of God to you, brother. Semper Fi.
Timothy Paul Carroll the only man you know who became a Marine Corps Private, THREE TIMES.
Hey, When you get a free minute please go to www.countryweekly.com/freemusic and download your FREE copy of C'mon DJ by Mustang Sally!! If you dig country music with an edge you'll love it & every download goes to help us get a FEATURE ARTICLE! Thanks so much & God Bless!
Hi There, We started a Facebook site and wanted to let you know about it in you case you have one too and would like to join us there as well as at Myspace. For the link... Just Click here----->
FACEBOOK Urban Monroes Thanks a lot. Hope to see ya there!
Caught the very end of the show at TK's. I tried to leave the basketball game earlier just didnt work out! Great show as always!! WARMER than Wyoming? Barely!!!
Yeah I do remember about ol Slow Poke Gina, I haven't seen her around or atleast in my way haha.. We miss you too but I hope your music goes great. I want you to stay in tuch with ma okay?
2010 it's me you and a dog named Buster ( if he's still kickN') and a road trip to Texas to write! Promise! It's gonna be a good year. Got your wet suit? You know how those waves are.
Hey Matt! Looks like things are going great! I havent been on Myspace in forever, got sucked in by the facebook monster! Looks like you have a lot of big gigs going these days....I will have to come see ya a Toby's. Gotta hear Jim Beam in my canteen! :) Still sing that? I love it! TTYL
Thanks brother! It mean alot coming from you a true artist! Ive about got all the other done got to go to Nashville to get it mixed next week. Ive got an updated cd with better sound and my vocals now so check it out and let me no. Ive also added instuments to Barroom shoulder,hot rod and simple like that. Thanks again.
Hey man! How's it going? Hope all is well. Jeff and I have officially started our band, Ridgeroad Riders. We are on www.reverbnation.com/Ridgeroad Riders..It's pretty cool, you get ranked locally and globally by fans. Go check us out and become a fan, I can add you to my list so all of my friends can hear your music. We have 4 videos on there and several more on facebook and myspace. In April I'm going to be able to invest in some good sound equiptment, speakers soundboard, mics, monitors, laptop, and maybe some insturments so we'll have it all. We're really tryin to make a go of this. Keep in touch man and best of luck!!! Brad
fish kisses!
