Nathan Bowles is a multi-instrumentalist musician and teacher living in the mountains of southwestern Virginia. His work, both as an accomplished solo artist and as a sought-after ensemble player, explores the rugged country between the poles of Appalachian old-time traditions and ecstatic, minimalist drone. Although his recent solo recordings prominently feature his virtuosic banjo, Bowles is also widely recognized as a drummer, and he considers himself first and foremost a percussionist, with banjo as a natural extension of his percussive practice. He and his bandmates in the popular and critically acclaimed old-time group the Black Twig Pickers steep themselves in local traditions of Appalachian folk music and dance, very much a vital part of cultural life in the region. As a member of the long-running improvisational drone outfit Pelt, Bowles focuses on the various sonic possibilities inherent in struck and bowed percussion—metal, wood, skin, or otherwise. When playing by his lonesome under his birth name, he prefers either minimal and hyper-nuanced percussive drone or tranced-out solo clawhammer banjo. Bowles has also recorded, collaborated, and performed with Steve Gunn, Jack Rose, Hiss Golden Messenger, Black Dirt Oak, Scott Verrastro, Pigeons, Spiral Joy Band, and others. The seven songs on his second solo album Nansemond deploy banjo, percussion, piano, tapes, and—for the first time—his robust voice, moving effortlessly between composed sections, improvised passages, and field recordings. The Nansemond suite demonstrates the elasticity of Appalachian and Piedmont stringband music and the inherent connections, when those forms are distended, dilated, and dissected—as in the “Sleepy Lake” pieces, “Chuckatuck,” or “Golden Floaters/Hog Jank”—to contemporary improvised and post-minimalist avant-garde music. Bowles’ inventive playing on the album somehow finds common ground between tradition-bearing masters like Dock Boggs, Dink Roberts, and Etta Baker and the outré compositional experiments and extended techniques of Paul Metzger, Clive Palmer, and Henry Flynt. But these two strains always feel purposefully and organically integrated, not distinct or hierarchical, and that elegant and novel elision is perhaps the most notable accomplishment of these hypnotic recordings: they respectfully refuse to accept the porous boundaries between Southern vernacular music and modernism.
2021
2018
2016
Kendra Steiner Editions
CDr, Album
2016
2014
2013
2012
2013
2010
2024
Uncut (2), Kelsey Media
CD, Comp
2024
Drag City Records
LP, Album
2024
DOSed
Cass, Ltd, Num
2023
Uncut (2), NME Networks
CD, Comp
2023
2023
2021
Paradise Of Bachelors
File, MP3, Single, 320
2021
Paradise Of Bachelors
File, MP3, Single, 320
2021
VHF Records
LP, Album
2021
2021
2021
2020
2020
2020
2019
2018
2018
2017
MIE Music, MIE Music
10", Ltd
2017
2017
2016
Not On Label
CD, Album
2016
2016
2016
2015
Uncut (2), Uncut (2)
CD, Comp
2015
2015
2014
MIE Music
LP, Ltd
2014
Uncut (2)
CD, Comp
2014
Torn Light Records
Cass, EP, Mono
2014
2014
2013
2013
2012
Blackest Rainbow
CDr, Ltd
2012
Brave Mysteries
Cass, Ltd, C60
2012
Peasant Magik
3xCass
2012
2012
2012
2011
2011
2010
The Great Pop Supplement
7", Single, Ltd
2010
2010
2009
VHF Records
CD, Album
2009
2009
2009
2008
Klang Industries
CDr, Album
2008
2006
VHF Records
CD, Album
2006
Klang Industries
CDr, Album, Ltd
2024
2022
Aquarium Drunkard
33xFile, MP3, 320
2017
Scissor Tail
2xCD, Album
2017
2016
Uncut (2)
CD, Comp
2015
Paradise Of Bachelors
CD, Comp, Promo
2013
Gonzo Circus
CD, Comp
2013
Wire Magazine
15xFile, MP3, Comp, 320
2011
(K-RAA-K)³
2x7", Comp
2010
Jack Rose LLC
41xFile, MP3, Comp, 320
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