It’s check-in time for Wade Bowen’s Lost Hotel:
You’ll find it in a Small-Town
along the Endless Texas Highway
Article and Photos by Howie Doyle
Do a search for alt-country rocker “Wade Bowen”
on the Internet and you will get around 75,000 hits.
Although established Texas musicians like Billy Joe
Shaver or Pat Green will yield around a million
search results, that’s not bad for a son of Waco who
has established a music career without the support
of a major label and with limited radio play for the
13 tracks on Lost Hotel, Bowen’s latest CD released
in February.
This admittedly unscientific method of
quantifying how “big” an artist is does reveal a key
element in Wade Bowen’s success: he built it one fan
at a time over the last eight years in remote
roadhouses and smoke-filled honky tonks across the
state, playing around 250 shows a year.
To label Bowen’s music (usually alt-country and
roots rock) is to lose the diversity of influences
ranging from George Straight and Patti Griffin to
Led Zeppelin and Aerosmith. Unlike “Hotel
California,” Bowen’s Hotel is grounded, tangible,
and altogether real, in the Texas music tradition of
guiding stars like Nelson, Shaver, McMurtry and
Keene. (“When I was 17 years old my band was
practically a Robert Earl Keene cover band,” Bowen
confesses.)
When we spoke with Wade about the exciting buzz
that the singer-songwriter’s music is garnering, he
expressed both excitement and concern about the
ever-increasing size of the venues he shares with
his growing legion of fans: it makes his personal
relationship with them hard to maintain.
“It’s pretty difficult,” he commented. “I try to
make an appearance after every show to meet and
greet, and to sign what everybody wants signed.”
Wade sees familiar faces at every show, the group he
refers to as his “underground fans.” Unintentionally
extending the metaphor, he says they are “the roots
of my success.”
Since collaborating with Pat Green on “Don’t
Break My Heart Again,” a track which appeared on
Green’s 2004 release, Lucky Ones, Bowen has played
in stadiums and other large venues, and he likes the
adrenalin roar of putting it all out there for
mega-crowds. But his heart for performing is still
in a more intimate setting, as it would be for one
of his choice musical influences, a man fabled for
both the energy and soul he shares with his
audiences. “Bruce Springsteen... that’s where our
live show comes from.”
“You have to work to entertain 100 people,
really,” he explained. “A crowd of 20,000 just feeds
off the energy; they entertain each other.”
Wade Bowen’s song, “God Bless This Town” went to
number one on the Texas Music Charts, and the
Country Music Television (CMT) network has kept the
music video for the song in rotation, defying the
songwriter’s expectations. “We made the video mainly
to send out to media, and for booking festivals and
fairs, but within three weeks of recording it, CMT
had it on the air.” Ray Wylie Hubbard makes an
appearance in the video, and Billy Joe Shaver was
scheduled to, but was under the weather when it was
shot. When the godfathers of Texas music are paying
musical respect to a new artist like Wade, the echo
is heard around the state.
The churn of the artist’s recent success, the
grinding road schedule he has maintained for years,
and the pressure to write new material has generated
a lot of emotional ups and downs. “I’ve learned to
take everything as it comes, and to keep a steady
pace on the mental aspect of things.”
Wade has the contemplative, mature view of the
concept of success that working musicians often
adopt – at least the ones who see the glass as
half-full. He is open to teaming with a major record
company, but knows the move wouldn’t come without
risk. “They can take the creativity away,” he
explained. “We have had some interest from big
labels, but it didn’t pan out. I’ve been told that
my music is not commercial or radio-friendly enough,
but I believe it is.” So Wade says he will simply
“stay true to the art, and work to make the music
better and better.”
For Wade, this is an evolving process. His muse
for past releases has come in the form of a female
siren. “I wrote about heartbreak, soul searching,
and figuring out your direction in life. Things have
changed; now I have a beautiful wife and a son.” At
14-months of age, Bruce (named after Springsteen)
represents a whole other level of success for Wade,
but also makes for unfamiliar creative footing. “I’m
not used to writing about being happy.”
Bowen the artist draws from life; from his
childhood in Waco, to his college years at Texas
Tech (where he earned a degree in public relations),
to his journey in music, his music carries a
consistent theme. As he puts it, “No matter how bad
things have been, I learned in my upbringing that
there is always hope.”
Wade Bowen is currently writing for his next CD,
which he plans to record in early 2007. Visit
www.wadebowen.com.
See Wade perform at ZiegenBock Music Festival,
Oct. 21, 2006 at ZiegenBock Field, Sam Houston Race
Park at 6:45 pm. |
