By Caroline Watling
“You think I need a guitarist? I do this myself!” singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Courtney Bowles responded when asked where her guitarist was at her first performance at Stories, Songs, & Six Strings.
Courtney was inspired to pursue her passion for music from a young age. Her parents are music fans and often took her to community music events, and live shows like John Sheard. One of the most pivotal and inspirational moments for Courntey as a young girl was travelling out east, and seeing Natalie MacMaster singing and playing the fiddle, the artist says “I remember really wanting that for myself, but feeling it was unattainable.”
Growing up Courtney was inspired to write, and learn instruments. Through high school and college she would learn new covers, and write as a way of managing her mental health. It wasn’t until she was 24 that she got a paid performance opportunity. But that one opportunity inspired her, she realized she could work professionally as a musician, and within six months transitioned to a full time career in music. All in all, it has been “quite the ride” Courtney said.
Once she began her journey as a professional musician, Courtney had some amazing support from the local community. One huge influence was Markham School of Rock where Courtney was a teacher. The experience helped her in two ways, first was the talented and supportive staff lineup. The second benefit of her time working there was how it challenged her as an artist; having to learn songs outside her comfort level, teach multiple instruments, break down harmonies, and prepare students for success in technical, and performative aspects. While Courtney is not an artist to shy away from diverse genres, covering songs by Fleetwood Mac, Amy Winehouse, Beyonce, and Carrie Underwood, to name a few, her time teaching demanded even greater flexibility in genre and music choice.
Her command of genres was brilliantly displayed in her 2018 EP Resume. From the groovy, blues song “Letting You Go” to the introspective folk song “Peaches”, the album displayed her range, and talent.
In June, Courtney released the country single “Beautiful Daughter” co-written by Mike Blake, The song, that started as a fun side project four years ago, now has over 11 000 listens on spotify. The song came to be when Courney connected with Mike over a poem he wrote, which became the lyrics for the song.
“I created a little melody and sent it to him because it was important to me that he liked it. When he heard the music, it was similar to the melody in his head when he was writing it. Ultimately he wrote the lyrics, and the story was his, but my band recorded it.”
Although she didn’t write the lyrics to the latest song, Courtney is a lyricist, and on lyric writing she says:
“It’s important to realize that lyrics are in the ear of the beholder, it’s what you hear and you feel when you hear the song. I might tell a story about myself in the first verse, and my buddy Joe in the second, but the listener might not hear that, they might hear one story.”
Courtney uses lyrics as one way of starting her songwriting process. Her songwriting methods follow three unique creation processes. In addition to playing with words, Courtney will also record herself singing in the car, and later put piano to it. One of the most powerful ways she creates music is by cowriting, and jamming with other artists. As someone relatively new to the music scene, this is a way for the artist to learn and absorb from musicians who have been around for 20 plus years.
In fact, some of her favourite Markham memories have been at Rouge River Brewery, who have a monthly open jam hosted by Graham Unsted and Daniel Felushko. The talent that attends the jam is always amazing, and has included Quincy Bullen, and trombonist Daniel Walsh. The Brewery has been such a big support of the music community, and the community has an amazing home there to come together and create. It’s not only the Brewery, the artists says, Markham as a whole has always been awesome for supporting the artistic community.
When asked her advice for other artists, Courtney responded:
“The territory of being an artist, we all feel like we have so much to learn, but also feel like we know it all. My advice for someone who wants to make this a full time career is to keep an open mind, keep your ears open, listen to advice but don’t believe anyone. In this market and career there are so many people who are willing to offer you a “deal” or “partnership” and it seems to be for nothing, or because you’re talented, often there are a lot of unwritten rules or expectations that are not forthcoming. Be open to learning, be careful, and take time, don’t jump into anything too fast before you know what you’re getting into, I suppose that’s advice in music and life.”
So what’s up next? Courtney has been in the studio with Graham Unsted at Villa Sound in Collingwood working on a new single called Whispers, which is coming out in early October.
Check out Courtney’s Music in our ArtistUnplugged series. You can follow her music:
On Amazon Music: https://www.amazon.com/R%C3%A9sume-Explicit-Courtney-Bowles/dp/B07KMMVPQX
ITUNES Artist LINK: https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/1442992278
Spotify Artist Link: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1L7OPN18gcuZj2dgYehAqS
IHEART Radio – https://www.iheart.com/artist/courtney-bowles-33723938/
