Robert Bowlin: Six String Soliloquy

New Release Highlight
Robert Bowlin: Six String Soliloquy
by Dan Miller
When we featured Robert Bowlin on the
cover of Flatpicking Guitar Magazine’s
September/October 2000 issue, Joe Carr’s
article about Robert was titled “Making
music that makes other people sound good.”
Tastefully fitting into a band situation and
providing exactly what is needed to make
the whole band sound better is what Robert
Bowlin does best. He has done it out on
the road with such distinguished names
as Maura O’Connell, Tom T. Hall, Faron
Young, Kathy Mattea, Bill Monroe, Richard
Greene, and the Osborne Brothers. Robert’s
guitar playing is more about taste—playing
the right thing at the right time—than it is
about being “hot” and flashy. He doesn’t
draw attention to himself; he simply
makes the band sound better as a whole.
As Joe Carr said in his article six years
ago, “Robert is best known for his tasty
musical approach—that ‘just right’ phrase
that makes a song click.”
Robert has never really received the
amount of attention that someone of his
incredible skill and abilities deserves.
Not only that, he seemed to have totally
dropped out of the music scene after leaving
the Osborne Brothers in 2003. Robert has
always been one of my favorite flatpickers
and many times since we published the
cover story about Robert I’ve thought to
myself, “I wonder what Robert Bowlin is
up to these days?”
Several months ago Brad Davis sent me
an email with a link to a myspace page that
he said I should check out. I went to the link
and saw the page listed “Wil Maring/Shady
Mix with Robert Bowlin.” I had never heard
of Wil Maring before and I was interested
in knowing why Robert, after performing
with some of the most famous people in
the country music world, was playing with
this person. I clicked on the first song, “The
Turning of A Century” and began to listen.
After hearing a verse and chorus, it became
very obvious to me why Robert was playing
with Wil Maring. The music was absolutely
incredible! It was on par with some of the
best female singer/songwriter music that I
have ever heard. Wil’s music has a Nanci
Griffith kind of vibe, which I love, but
has an even more mid-western rootsy and
70
down-home feel to it. It is unique and very
pleasing to the ear. The more I listened,
the more I liked the music, the singing,
and the songwriting (which you can check
out for yourself at http://www.myspace.
com/wilmaring).
Now I needed to find out more about Wil
Maring and try to discover why I had not
heard about her before. As I started to read
her bio on myspace it said that she had won
the prestigious Chris Austin songwriting
contest and had appeared on the Grand
Ole Opry, so I’m still wondering why I
hadn’t heard of her. The bio then said that
she had “honed her skills playing music
professionally in Europe with her group
Shady Mix.” OK, there was a clue. Perhaps
she had spent most of her career in Europe.
Further investigation, on her band’s website
revealed that Wil had indeed spent more
than ten years in Germany. She had returned
to the United States in the fall of 2001 and
since then had mostly been performing in
her “ten-county comfort-zone” around her
home in southern Illinois. The site also
stated that she was “gathering the gumption”
to step out beyond that region. My reaction
was “it is about time…people need to hear
this woman sing!”
In addition to learning a little bit about
Wil’s background and that she had two CDs
available that featured Robert Bowlin on
guitar, I also discovered that Robert had put
out a solo guitar CD, Six String Soliloquy.
I then recalled hearing something about a
Robert Bowlin CD on the flatpick-L internet
group some time last year. I immediately
sent an email to Wil asking if I could get
copies of the CDs for review and if she
could send me Robert’s current contact
information. She sent me an email back that
included Robert’s current phone number.
She also told me that Robert was teaching
for a semester in the bluegrass program at
East Tennessee State University and said
that she would be happy to send the CDs.
About a week later all of the CDs arrived
(Wil has recorded a total of seven CDs;
she sent me four of hers, plus Roberts’
solo CD). Those CDs did not leave my CD
player for weeks, and they are still in very
heavy rotation!
Robert Bowlin’s solo CD is truly a
soliloquy, a musical monologue. It’s not the
type of solo CD where his is the only name
on the cover but a lot of other musicians
help him out. This one is just Robert and
his guitar. It is all flatpicked, but it is not
like many other flatpicking CDs that you
may have heard. There are not any blistering
fast solos and there are only two standard
flatpicking fiddle tunes (“East Tennessee
Blues” and “Whiskey Before Breakfast”).
All of the tunes are played at a slow-tomoderate tempo.
The most unique aspect of this recording
(which I discovered after talking with Robert
about the project) is that the entire recording
was improvised while he was laying it
down. While it is not hard to imagine a
player of Robert’s skill sitting in front of a
microphone and improvising on standard
tunes and composed original numbers, the
amazing thing about this recording is that
Robert wrote six or seven of the fifteen cuts
spontaneously in real time! “Sometimes I’m
in the mood to just sit down in front of the
mic and start playing,” he said. “When I do
that, sometimes a song will come out better
than if I was to try to compose it.”
To understand the series of events that
led up to Robert recording this solo CD,
I caught up with him starting back in late
2000 after we had published the cover story.
When Flatpicking Guitar Magazine had
last talked with Robert he was playing with
Richard Greene’s band The Grass is Greener.
After leaving that band Robert then joined
the Osborne Brothers from 2001 through
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
May/June 2007
2003. Although the Osborne Brothers had
never featured lead guitar in their music,
they allowed Robert the opportunity to step
out and take a few guitar solos during their
show. Robert stayed with them until they
began to move towards retirement. In 2004
he became a member of Wil Maring’s band
Shady Mix. After hearing the story of how
Wil and Robert met, it sounded like one of
those things that was just meant to be.
Wil Maring explained that she had been
a fan of Robert’s guitar work since she had
seen him perform with Kathy Mattea in
Prague back in 1988. “I remember standing
in front of the stage at that show,” Wil
recalled, “and being very impressed with
the guitar player. His style of playing fit the
way I hear music. I wanted to talk with him
after the show, but I couldn’t find the band’s
dressing room.”
Years later, after Wil and her Germanborn husband Mark Stoffel had moved back
to the United States from Germany, Wil’s
friend Gary Gordon came to visit her just
after he had returned from a studio session in
Nashville. Wil remembers, “Gary was going
on and on about this guitar player who was
going to play on his CD. He brought over a
copy of Flatpicking Guitar Magazine that
had Robert on the cover and left it with us. I
think that magazine stayed in the magazine
pile in our bathroom for about two years.”
At the time Wil did not make the connection
between the guitar player who was on the
cover of the magazine and the guy she had
seen play with Kathy Mattea in Prague.
Wil and Mark had moved back to the
United States from Germany in the fall of
2001. By the spring of 2002 Mark had set up
a recording studio in their home in Illinois.
A band from Missouri, Frank Ray & Cedar
Hill, had come to the studio to record that
spring and Robert Bowlin had been hired
to play guitar and fiddle for the session.
Wil said, “I wasn’t really involved with the
session. I was at the house, but I was busy
with other things and never got the chance to
talk with Robert. A year later that same band
came back in the studio to record a second
CD. Robert was there again and I got to visit
with him. I still didn’t make the connection
with who he was. I didn’t realize that he
was the guy from Kathy Mattea’s band and
I didn’t even recognize him as the guy from
the magazine cover. I didn’t start to put those
things together until after he left. We just
talked about music. When he was leaving
my husband handed him one of my CDs.
Until that moment I don’t think that Robert
even realized that we had a band.”
Robert listened to Wil’s CD The Turning
of A Century while he was driving home.
“I started playing the CD when I left
the session,” he said, “and I just kept on
playing it. What struck me about this CD
was Wil’s voice and the overall feel of the
recording. It had a uniqueness to it…it cut
through the preconceived notion of singers
that you have in your head. When I heard
her interpretation of ‘Sunny Side of the
Mountain’ I realized that although I’d heard
that song all my life I had never really
listened to the words until I heard her sing it.
I must have listened to that song 200 times.
I also liked the title song ‘The Turning of
a Century’ and her phrasing in a song like
‘One in the Great White Yonder’ was very
unique. It is hard to describe what it is. I
can’t quite put my finger on it, but it spoke
out from the way a lot of singers interpret a
song or sing a phrase. To me it was a very
fresh sound.”
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine May/June 2007
71
Robert Bowlin and Wil Maring performing on the Grand Ole Opry
The quality and uniqueness of Wil’s
music prompted Robert to give Wil a call
about a month after he had been given the
CD. “I didn’t really call to inquire about a
job. I was just calling to say ‘hello’ and say
how much I liked the CD. I had continued
to play the CD and I carried that music with
me. It made me curious about where they
were playing and what they were doing. In
the back of my mind I was thinking that
maybe I could play with them.”
Wil remembers, “At some point we had
to go to Nashville to get work done on a
fiddle. We took it to Robert’s shop and
then sat around and jammed. There was a
musical connection. During the visit we had
mentioned to Robert that we had been trying
to get a gig at the Station Inn. He knew the
owner, JT Gray, and contacted him about
booking us. JT told Robert that he would
hire us, but as a stipulation Robert had to
join us as a special guest so that there would
be some name recognition.” After that show
Robert started to join the band onstage on
other gigs. By 2004 he was playing all of
the band’s shows.
About this time Mark began to take
on more full-time work within the digital
media field, while Wil decided to take
a leap of faith and extend her recording
artist career opportunities. This, together
with the eventual culmination of some
personal relationship challenges which
became apparent during their successful
run in Germany, was the deciding factor in
72
the end of their marriage. However, their
musical collaboration continued to produce
two more projects, a live performance CD,
Shady Mix Live, and then in 2006, Wil’s
third solo CD, The Calling, on which Robert
played an important role in arranging and
performing.
Today Wil Maring and Robert Bowlin
are primarily performing as a duo or in a
trio with a bass player, and sometimes still
as a quartet with local musicians in Southern
Illinois. When they perform as a duo Wil
will sometimes play bass and Robert guitar,
but more often than not they both play
guitar. Robert said, “When we both play the
guitar we try to voice them differently. For
instance when we play a tune like ‘Arkansas
Traveler’ I will use a C tuning and Wil will
use an open G tuning and capo up on the
5th fret.” Wil said, “Our strategy when we
are both playing the guitar is for me to capo
up high and for Robert to tune down low.
He likes to use drop D tuning. That way we
have a broad range and can stack the notes
and get a big sound.”
Although Robert had been planning
a solo CD for years, it was Wil’s urging
that finally motivated him to sit down and
get it finished. Wil remembers, “I’d been
bugging him to record a solo CD for about
a year and a half. We were playing a lot of
shows and he had nothing of his own to
sell. He was missing out on a lot of income
because people were asking for it at our
shows. There is a gig that we play near
Springfield, Illinois, where we usually sell
a lot of product. About five days before that
show I said to Robert, ‘It is too bad that you
don’t have anything to sell.’ He surprised
me and said, ‘Let’s make something real
quick.’ I took a picture for the front cover,
started on the graphics, and he got to work
on the recording.”
At that time Robert had a few songs
already on his hard drive but was a long
way from a complete CD. He sat down and
finished the rest of the CD on Monday and
Tuesday of that week. By Wednesday he had
the master at a short-run quick-turnaround
duplication facility in Nashville. Wil said,
“He was standing at the counter in the
duplication place talking with me on the
phone and we were trying to come up with
titles for the songs he had improvised so that
they could print the song list on the disc. He
still hadn’t even come up with a name for
the CD, so I suggested Six String Soliloquy.”
Since the CD first came out, Robert has been
only printing short runs in order to sell it at
shows. He is now in the process of fixing a
few little glitches and re-mastering it to get
the recording ready for a more substantial
duplication run. In fact, the version of “East
Tennessee Blues” that we have included on
this issue’s audio CD companion is different
that the one on the original disc as it was one
of the songs he decided to re-record, using
additional variations to the melody.
Although Robert can play just about any
stringed instrument (as well as piano and
trumpet and who knows what else), he said
that he feels like the guitar is his creative
voice, perhaps because he has spent many
more hours on the guitar. Regarding his new
recording of solo improvisations, Robert
said that the challenge was to maintain the
rhythmic harmonic content and play the lead
at the same time. He does a phenomenal
job with that, utilizing chordal strums,
crosspicking, and arpeggiated rolls.
Although Robert was the National
Fingerstyle Guitar Champion in 1979, he
said that he prefers to play with a flatpick.
He said, “I like to think of playing the guitar
like piano playing. I played the piano from
grade school up through college. I think of
the guitar like it is an open keyboard. In
order to put the sound down the way I hear
it, and to make the tone even, I need to use a
flatpick. I like to strike each note solidly, as
I would press a piano key all the way down
to the bottom, with varied dynamics. I can’t
do that with my fingers.”
In his improvisations Robert also draws
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
May/June 2007
from his violin background. He said, “I like the song ‘Butterflies’
the most. There is a lot of floating around in there that was probably
inspired by violin solo pieces and concertos. When asked about the
slower tempo of the two fiddle tunes, Robert said, “I lived in Texas
for a while and listened to fiddlers like Benny Thomason who played
slowly. I like to try to get lyricism and nice phrasing out of these
tunes. I like to tell a story.” Robert’s rich tone combined with lyrical
phrasing and a wide range of dynamics does indeed make his sound
like his guitar is telling a story.
The guitar that Robert used on this recording was a 1930 Larson
Brothers guitar stamped “Robert Stahl,” that was intended for sale
in his store. Robert explains, “The Larson Brothers made guitars
under different names depending on who was selling it. It is similar
to a Martin OM, but shaped a little differently. The back and top
are a little arched and the bracing is different.” When asked what he
liked about the guitar, Robert said, “The Larson is voiced to sound
sweet in the midrange. It has good sustain and the upper range is
focused. The Larson guitars don’t usually have much on the bottom
end, but if you get the right one the bottom end will be good. It is
super-balanced and loud.”
The music on Robert’s new CD includes two fiddle tunes, a
couple of bluesy numbers, many beautifully lyrical pieces, and some
old Stephen Foster standards (“I Dream of Jeannie/Old Kentucky
Home”). Overall, it is the kind of music that you want to listen to
when you need to sit back and relax…something to put on while
having the morning coffee, taking a long relaxing drive, reading a
good book, or just settling in for a quiet evening. It’s music that is
soothing, relaxing, and very enjoyable.
When Robert’s recording was first released last summer there was
some buzz on the internet listserv group flatpick-L. Here is what list
member Dan Mozell had to say: “There are lots of guitarists these
days who have great technique and can generate excitement with hot
picking. Robert can certainly do the same. But there are few who
work with the full range of emotion that is possible in music. These
are medium and slow paced solos intended to move the listener.
Though they’ll appeal to any guitar playing person with an ear,
they’ll also appeal to others who don’t care what kind of guitar he
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Flatpicking Guitar Magazine May/June 2007
plays or whether or not he uses a custom-made beveled pick. Do you
have a spouse who’s tired of hearing your flatpicking CDs? Get this
one and you’ll both enjoy it! This is really one of the finest guitar
recordings I’ve heard in years. It’s only fault is that it’s too short. I
could listen to Roberts picking all day.” Many other list members
chimed in to concur. I’ll have to agree with his assessment as well.
This is a recording that all guitar players need to own.
On this issue’s audio CD we have included Robert’s arrangement
of “East Tennessee Blues” and we have transcribed the first
section of his solo on the pages that follow. At the end of the audio
companion we have also included two songs from Wil Maring. The
first is the old flatpicking standard “St. Anne’s Reel”. The unique
thing about this recording is that Wil wrote some incredible lyrics
to the tune and sings them on this cut. Any flatpicker who likes to
sing, or performs with a singer, needs to learn these lyrics and bring
them out at the next jam session or show.
Since Robert Bowlin was not yet with the band when they
recorded “St. Anne’s Reel,” I wanted to included another cut on our
audio CD so that subscribers could hear the way Robert accompanies
a song. I asked Wil if I could included something from her newest
CD The Calling. She told me that she and Robert had just been in
Gary Gordon’s studio recording a demo to a brand-new song that
she had written called “Flapping My Wings.” Since the only lead
instrument on the demo is Robert’s guitar, Wil thought that would be
a better selection. On the cut Wil plays the guitar intro and rhythm
guitar while Robert plays all of the guitar fills and guitar solos. If
you like what you hear on this CD, go to www.wilmaring.com and
order a couple of Wil’s CDs. You will be happy that you did.
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East Tennesse Blues
Audio CD
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East Tennessee Blues (con’t)
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