Wil Maring and Robert Bowlin

Description

Award-winning singersongwriter Wil Maring and virtuose guitarist/fiddler Robert Bowlin combine their talents, smoothly blending elements from all roots music genres to create an original acoustic music all their own-- oldtime and bluegrass, jazz and blues, celtic and country. Wil's clear, airy vocal style and heartfelt lyrics, with her proficiency on upright bass, rhythm and fingerstyle guitar, provide a perfect complement to Bowlin's instrumental fireworks. Wil has toured Japan and Europe, was a Merlefest songwriting contest winner, a Kerrville NewFolk finalist, and together they have performed their original music on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry and NPR's Whaddya Know program. Robert Bowlin, a two-time National Fingerpicking and Flatpicking Guitar contest winner, is a well-respected Nashville studio musician on several instruments, and has been a band member with legendary artists like Bill Monroe, Tom T. Hall, Faron Young, Ray Price, Ricky Van Shelton, Kathy Mattea, Maura O'Connell, the Osborne Brothers, and many more. As a duo, they have travelled coast to coast in the last decade, in Canada and the U.S, playing everywhere from the nation's largest acoustic festivals to intimate house concerts.

Work Sample

Wil Maring and Robert Bowlin performing for Stage Sessions, WKYCTC Clemen's Performing Arts center. Recorded on September 26, 2020. Runtime: 41:27 a program of artist interviews, and mostly original music mixed with a few standards.

The Stage Sessions program recorded in Sept 2020 at the Clemen's Center in Paducah, KY, gives a good overview of the breadth of the repertoire, from original songs from both Wil and Robert, to fast-paced instrumental music, to even jazzy swing or torch songs.

History

Award-winning singer-songwriter Wil Maring and highly-respected former Nashville multi-instrumentalist Robert Bowlin began working together in 2005, after relocating to southern Illinois respectively from Europe and Tennessee. Previously, Robert was busy in the Nashville music industry, having been a band member with Bill Monroe, Tom T. Hall, Kathy Mattea, and many others. Wil had been living and touring in Europe for ten years. In the decade and a half since 2005, they have toured coast to coast and Canada too, presenting their original acoustic music on some of the largest acoustic festival stages, as well as guesting on the Grand Old Opry and NPR's Whaddaya Know program. In addition to performing, they also have been faculty at workshops and music camps across the US, teaching their instruments and songwriting. Robert is still a sought-after studio musician, travelling to Nashville to record, or having tracks sent to his studio in Cobden IL., where the Robert and Wil have recorded their projects, both solo and as a duo. Using upright bass, fiddle, and flatpicking or fingerstyle guitars, their music paints pictures of the rural landscapes and nature that surround them, taking inspiration from the Shawnee National Forest and the nearby Mississippi River.

Artistic Vision

In a hectic, chaotic, and increasingly technical world, we want to bring the peace and beauty of our rural Southern Illinois surroundings to the listeners, and bring them to those beautiful places we are trying to describe in word, melody and instrumental music. Music has the incredible power to transport. In the music can be heard the influences of old time, bluegrass, and folk, along with jazz and swing, country and pop. We try to tailor our performances to the particular audience, from young people to seniors.

Programs for Specific Audience(s) Expertise

We have played some programs for senior audiences, and are very well received at such concerts, performing not only our own original music, but also work from the American Songbook, or older traditional country or bluegrass music.

Traditional Folk/Ethnic Artform Statement

We come from such diverse backgrounds. Robert Bowlin was raised in Arkansas but was a classical piano prodigy as a child, yet was exposed to the traditional Ozark folk traditions as well. Wil Maring is the daughter of anthropologists/ethnomusicologists, and so was exposed to and learned to love almost every kind of traditional folk tradition from various cultures. We cannot help but to use these influences in our music, but would not say that we are specifically traditional folk or ethnic artists.