Grace Bowers discusses transcending the label of blues guitarist.]

When Grace Bowers exploded onto the scene, she was lauded as a blues rock wunderkind – cemented by the release of her debut album, 2024’s Wine On Venus, a collision of blues, funk, and soul.

However, the guitarist, now 19, is not interested in being pigeonholed – and reveals that she is now more in tune with what she wants to create moving forward.

“I can’t go back and listen to it,” she tells Guitar.com. “I had never written a song before and my agent was like, ‘I’m having trouble booking you because you don’t have music out.’ I’m super-glad that I did it.

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“It was an incredible experience, and there are songs on it that will always be near and dear to my heart because of what they were written about [the title track was written in honor of her grandma, who lived to be 100].”

“At the same time, it’s not the kind of music I want to make anymore,” she admits. “I didn’t even know what kind of music I wanted to make when I was 16. I also don’t tour with that band anymore, so it definitely stands as a phase of my life that is documented. But I don’t really associate myself with it anymore.”

Now, Bowers is channeling a more punk-oriented spirit, which will be showcased in her new music. “Nothing pisses me off more than someone throwing a label on me,” she continues.

“I’m 19! The music I play now versus the music I played when I was 16 or 17 is vastly different. People get upset about that. I’m like, think about when you were 16… You were probably a different person. That’s what kind of sucks about being on social media all the time; I’ve grown up in front of so many people.”

The new material is still guitar-led, but leans more heavily into rock and punk, with pop inflections.

“I feel like there’s such a movement right now with hardcore and punk,” she says. “Rock bands are coming back. You have Geese and Yungblud… it’s super-inspiring to me. I’m like, ‘What can I add to this?’ What I have is not straight-ahead rock; it’s very modern-sounding.”

Last year, Bowers teased her rock era by channeling her inner shredder with a tribute to Ozzy Osbourne and Randy Rhoads.

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