“I would pick her out in a crowd... Like, ‘I know who that is,’ like David Gilmour”: Heart's Nancy Wilson says this “Clapton-type shredder” is her favorite contemporary guitarist

Heart's Nancy Wilson has recently heaped praise on many young guitarists who are making waves and challenging stereotypes. However, one guitarist in particular has impressed Wilson to the point that she called her “a Clapton-like shredder” with a “significant voice.”

“There's so many women right now that are younger women coming up that are just shredders, like Grace Bowers for example,” Wilson asserts on the Broken Record podcast.

“She is kind of a Clapton-type shredder. She's a blues player who, instead of for the quantity of notes, she plays for the quality of the expression of the notes that she chooses that sound more like sentences than show off stuff.”

In the latest issue of Total Guitar, Wilson name-checks Boygenius, Angel Olsen and Sleater-Kinney as some of her favorite contemporary guitarists and artists. However, she reserves her greatest praise for Grace Bowers. 

“There’s a whole difference in my mind between just shredding, like wanking off, as opposed to melodically conversational-type shredding. That’s what the great players do, like I think Grace Bowers is already at 17. 

“She has a significant voice. I would pick her out in a crowd of shredders, like, ‘Oh, I know who that is,’ like David Gilmour. You could shred ’til kingdom come, but it doesn’t stick until there’s a conversation going on.”

In addition to Wilson, Nashville's Grace Bowers has already grabbed the attention of Devon Allman, Margo Price, Susan Tedeschi and Christone “Kingfish” Ingram. Last year, she appeared at Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Festival. For 2024, she took things ever further by playing guitar for Dolly Parton and opening for Bleachers, all before releasing her debut single Tell Me Why U Do That.

Meanwhile, Nancy Wilson is in the midst of Heart's first North American tour in five years. This will be followed by Heart's largest-ever UK headline show on July 1 at London's O2 Arena. 

For more Nancy Wilson – including the story behind Heart's acoustic masterpiece – plus new interviews with Slash and St. Vincent, pick up issue 384 of Total Guitar at Magazines Direct.