Latest / Caught on the Mike... / Philip Bowen- "... on the Strings."

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Philip Bowen- "... on the Strings." · Caught on the Mike...

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: Disclaimer.
• 0:01
  SPEAKER_01: The views and opinions expressed in this program are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities they represent.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_01: Listener discretion is advised.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_01: Born and raised in West Virginia, Philip Phone, its uplifting town is heavily inspired by its athletic degrees.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_01: This dynamic singer songwriter and multi-instrumentalist has become quite popular on TikTok with over 6.7 million likes and 940,000 followers.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_01: And only growing, I think it's worth noting that watching his live every night has become a part of my nightly unwind routine.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_01: Not only is he awesomely talented, but he is a fantastic person, and I have the privilege of having him on the podcast today.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_01: Please welcome Philip Bowen to the show.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_01: Ladies and gentlemen, this is Caught on the Mickey.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: How are you doing?
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, thank you for having me.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: Oh man, it's a pleasure.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_01: I I think we've been trying to make this happen for a little while.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_01: Now, yes, I'm not gonna lie to you, dude.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_01: I don't just hand out compliments willy-nilly here.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_01: You have become a part of my nightly unwind routine.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I'll throw in the AirPods, I'll turn on the TikTok live, and I'm like, yes, yes.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: I love hearing that.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: Lots of people tell me that.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: And I even have people like literally this morning, somebody sent me a video, and it was like, it was like uh like an adult, and then they're like 90-some-year-old father, and then all the grandkids, and they're like, Oh, yeah, we like to throw your live up, just like at the house.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: We throw it up on the TV, you know, we just kind of sit and watch it.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, that's so cool.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: That's so cool.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_01: What's great about that to bring that full circle?
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_01: Tonight at supper, we're having chicken, we're sitting around the table, family dinner.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_01: I cued you up on Alexa.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_01: You are on the Amazon streaming services.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I just asked Alexa, I'm like, play some Philip Bowen, and sure enough, man, I got to hear a little bit of everything that you do that's out there.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, awesome.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_01: Which is really broad and diverse, and I think we're gonna get in the weeds of that.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_01: Why don't we hand it over to you without any further ado?
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_01: Introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your origin story.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so uh my name is Philip Bowen.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's my real last name, no pun intended.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: It worked out well, you know, for what I do.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I am uh a fiddle player slash violin um and a singer and a songwriter as well.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, I've been playing the fiddle since I was four years old.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: So that's like my first love musically.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: And then I started learning the guitar like in college.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: I had a bunch of buddies that played, and I wanted to be able to do the songwriting thing and and you know, sing while I played, and I can't do that with the fiddle, so I learned guitar.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, you know, like a lot of people, I had a little college band.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: I had two of them.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: One was a band called uh Yesterday's Tomorrow, yesterday's tomorrow, and the other one was called a five mile drive, and it was like it was like nine of us.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: It was just a huge, just you know, just chaotic jam band.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: And we used to I went to college in Tampa Bay, and we used to just like go play at the beach bars and the coffee shops and stuff like that, and for all the tourists, and it was really fun.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: And then, you know, which is which is all great, like life happens.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I'm married, I have I have young kids, and so for a while, like music kind of was on the back burner for me, and I just you know didn't think it was gonna happen in that way for me.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: And and then um I guess kind of a short story of how things kind of came to be how they are now is I went to this like music conference in Nashville in the summer of 2019, and when I was there, I was like, oh man, like this is what I need to be doing.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: Like I should never have stopped.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: And so I made a commitment to myself, and it's still on my desk, um, to do something every single day for music going into 2020, and it legit changed my life, even with COVID happening, because it forced me to do all that online.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, as you could see, like uh it started out small.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: This is kind of like year three of me like really getting after music, like seriously, or trying to get back into it, and I just cannot believe.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: I cannot believe like some days like the cool things I've got to do or how much things have grown, especially in the last like 12 to 18 months, it's just been like you know, head spinning.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: So it started for me doing small live shows on Reddit when that was a thing, and then evolving into you know, this I got this this been blessed with this nice studio now and and professional equipment and things, but it's been uh it's been a real blessing, man.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: It's been a journey for sure.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's weird how 2020, as chaotic of a year as it was, presented the perfect platform for people to be creative online.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um good, bad, and ugly, whatever you want to say about TikTok, it is I I talk about it with my friends because I'm I have a musical background as well.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_01: But I talk about it with my friends in the fact that if you are a creative and you're not on TikTok, it has the most true algorithm of any of the social media networks for reaching new listeners, new followers, and people that are kind of estranged to you otherwise.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's it's a really broad net sometimes in order to catch, like, you know, like for example, like back in the day, I w uh I was I was uh like a couple summers ago, one of the first things I ever got invited to go do in Nashville for session work was uh for this artist named Holly McCreary, and it was at uh Jimbo Hart's house, who's the bass player.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, you know, for Jason Isbell, who's like one of my favorite artists ever.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: Same that's the best, right?
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: And so I'm I'm at this like studio, it's gorgeous, and like every single room has like their Grammys in it and their touring posters, and it's very surreal.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: And I was outside talking to Jimbo after playing for a couple songs, and and he was like, Man, like back in the day, bro, he's like, you know, you would have to go do an open mic night every night of the week, and then you're touring constantly, you know, to just reach a tenth of the people or a hundredth, a thousandth of the people that you might reach online.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: Now it's not always apples to apples, but you know, you know, I mean, literally how I've done it is I've literally grown it one fan at a time.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: And at the beginning, it was truly like there was nights I would perform my butt off, I'd be sweating down here, and I'll a three-hour show, and I would have 21 new followers or something like that, and I'd be like, yes, and I would send every single new follower a thank you note.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not kidding you.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I was on that grind, bro.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I would have a I would call it homework time after every stream.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: Anybody that sent a tip, they got a thank you note.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: Anybody that that you know, whatever.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: And so like I truly like grew it that way, like from the ground up, which has been it's exhausting, but it's also like super rewarding when you when you get after it that way, you know?
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, yes, yes, because it would be really easy to go the easy route and pay for followers or use bots, and a lot of people do, and I'm not gonna throw people under the bus, but a lot of people do.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_01: But I mean, you are absolutely right.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_01: That personal touch, the thank you notes after the lives, the thank you notes after the follows, that's getting people to invest in you because they feel like you've invested in them, and that is so huge, and it's something that's kind of missing in this world, to be honest with you.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't know if I don't know if they ever told you this, but like I have a um a mentor in the music industry who like was just really calm with their time since the beginning, like when I had like a hundred followers on Instagram and stuff, and they had told me that like to kind of that that mantra of like you don't want followers or listeners.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, they're nice to have.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: You want fans, like you want the big capital F, you want fans, which means like if a listener, maybe they just recognize your album artwork on Spotify and you're you're a one song on a playlist, they forget about you two months later.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: A fan sticks with you through thick and thin, they come to shows over and over, and so like you're building a true community that way, and so I have tried my best to just approach it that way, you know, and be like, okay, it goes where it goes, but I'm like gonna try to do the best I can for the people that are in the room and that support me month over month over month.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: And then every time we get somebody new, it's a great day, you know what I mean?
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, and how different is it now compared to the days when you were playing in bands and working that grind when you did have to like do that groundwork, like that trudging through just to get people interested in what you were doing.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_00: It's cool because I had this conversation the other day with a music colleague of mine who's a much younger than me, TikToker, and uh and is uh not I'm not just just a really great songwriting musician, he's doing great.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: And um, he was stuff, he's like, Oh yeah, you know, but like it's all about like this one age range of you want.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, well, kind of.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: But like like uh 18 to 21 year olds can't support your art like people in their late 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, they can really support your art, like true patrons.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: And so I'm not discounting either end of the spectrum, but like before, maybe if you were going to play in a certain environment, you're only getting the people that are there in that specific moment, that window.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: And a lot of times they fall in the same basket, right?
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: Whether whether it's economically or age range or whatever the vibe is there.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_00: Whereas, like, and you could tell I spent my whole career like in digital marketing, like, but like this the beautiful thing about the web and like doing all this stuff through social media and everything like that, is that you like I said, you can just cast such a wide net, and you get some people that can support you at a really high level, and then you get some people that like, well, maybe they can't support you financially a lot, but they're gonna tell every single person they know about you.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: So it it definitely, especially if you're independent, it takes all types for sure.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: It does, you know.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_01: And from that digital marketing standpoint, you know, the big dog, Facebook, right?
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_01: How much it's changed from a marketing standpoint in the last 10 years.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_01: Like 10 years ago, it was a more natural algorithm where you would attract people that you didn't already know, but now it is kind of a limited echo chamber to friends and family only when you promote through that vessel.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_01: So it's it's crazy how it's changed on all fronts because I remember back in the day getting the postcard flyers from next day flyers and sticking them on car windows, going to every single music venue in town, and then also doing the ancillary Facebook posts.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_01: It's crazy how it's changed now in that regard.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it is, and and there's still like obviously, there's still a ton of space and a place for the the in-person stuff is is wonderful, like, especially when you finally get to go do that and you're doing a show for real people, like it real in front of you, and you get the energy of the room.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: But like you said, I mean, the I think that that what's never changed is that like there's no substitute for the work.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: So you just gotta figure out like, like you said, some people will go buy followers, and all that is is just that's just for yourself.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, maybe you bought maybe you buy some followers or something like that.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, great, you got 20,000 followers, but if they're not like organic and they don't really care about you, like you've done you've done nothing for yourself.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's a very short, like kind of a short like satisfaction, you know, but then like it's like okay, well, you know, I'm back where I was.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't really get any fans out of that, you know.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: So that's not what I mean.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: It's just all about that kind of focusing on what really works for you as you kind of like A B test stuff out, okay.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: Like this worked well, this doesn't, and just kind of keep going, you know, just keep going.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, yes.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_01: I definitely want to compliment you on again.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just not giving away compliments out of nowhere.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_01: That's very kind.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_01: I believe that connectivity bleeds through in your performances and your lives.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_01: Like those few moments that you spend talking to your audience between each performance or even the way you gesture while you perform, you can tell there's a sense of sincerity in appreciation to who's viewing and who's following you.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think that I know that what I appreciate, like like authenticity is king, you know?
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_00: And you just got you have got to do you.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_00: No matter no matter what that is that about you that is you, you know, like everybody borrows from everybody else.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: That's fine.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_00: That's that that's that's life.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: But like you're the only one that can bring your whole self to the table, right?
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and so like you know, people tell me that all the time, they'll be like, oh man, like you know, like you have people like the song, but like they're there for you, or like you know, whatever artist you go in to go see.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: And so, like, man, how I mean how much more of a joy is it when you go see an artist that you really like and you go to their show and they're just like super cool, right?
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: And they take time, and you're like, wow, they're even this is like 50 times better than I thought.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: Just like if you go see a band that you love and then either they don't like sound super great or they're just like jerks, or they don't like you, whatever it is.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_00: You're like, oh, this sucks.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't know if I like this as much anymore.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_00: So like I I I think that like I think that like the connection point, and maybe I don't know, maybe if I just value that so much because like you know, you're fighting for every uh you know, inch of yard that you're gaining, you know, whatever season sports analogy, every inch you're just battling for.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: And so like I think that people that are willing to like I'm genuinely thankful like for each of those interactions, or like if I get stopped for a picture now, which is very surreal when those things happen now, like I try my best to like stop, introduce myself, ask what their name is, take at least a minute, just because like man, like what it's just like it's like what is life?
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_00: This is so crazy, you know.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: So I I try to like I really try hard to to think about what what I would appreciate from an interaction like that or at a show, and just try to pour my whole self into it, you know.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_01: You are on year three of this recommitment journey to music.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_01: What's been the most surrealistic thing that has happened to you as a result of this, say in the past six months?
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, one of the very cool things as a songwriter, the coolest thing that's probably happened, is I got to go play at the Bluebird Cafe as a featured artist.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_00: Like, not not one song, not open mic.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I got to play with two other uh big shout to Kevin Mack and Jacob Leida, who I've written with.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: And I got to be center stage.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_00: I sang seven originals.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: Wow, and it was just like I mean, and they did as well.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: And every song that I was singing was like these guys are singing their songs that they've you know published in charted radio and stuff like that.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_00: And and that was a as a songwriter, to do like to get the invite to come to the bluebird and then to get to get invited back.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm hoping to go back in the spring, but like, man, I mean, it was just a very cool to go from like to go from like recording videos on my cell phone a couple years ago, just trying to make anything happen.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um, that's a huge blessing.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_00: And then I would say the the other one on the from the fiddle perspective or whatever, is this was just like last week.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_00: I got invited to go to um Morgantown.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a big West Virginia University fan.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_00: I grew up in West Virginia, and so I I went there and the football program had me come in, shoot some video with them on Friday, and then on the Saturday at the game, this is like I think two weeks ago now.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: Like um, you know, uh, you know, we got the whole like red carpet treatment.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_00: We got like field passes, we're like all access, blah, blah, blah.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_00: And then I got to perform during the game for like 60,000 people.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, it's just like that, like I said, that surreal moment of walking around the tailgate and walking around outside and like getting stopped left and right for pictures and autographs and stuff is very like it's like a pinch me kind of thing.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what?
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, like this is nuts.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_00: It's so nuts.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_00: And so, I mean, there's almost too many things have happened to be like, but like those two things really stand out to me because I try to put that in perspective even just three years ago, you know, and like feel like man, what a difference, what a difference a couple years makes, and like a lot of work, you know.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_01: Because we are a part of an instant gratification world, largely due to the fact that social media is so prominent as we've covered.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_01: Are we to a place where artists are more about releasing one song at a time, or are albums really even a thing anymore?
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_01: From the perspective of recording?
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I think that's like kind of kind of a loaded question because I think that sometimes you will have industry or label artists that'll be like, Well, nobody's making albums anymore, man.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_00: And and you and you're sitting there with which is good for them.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_00: Like I think it's amazing, but like they're having maybe a million or three million dollars of AR going into every record, you know, and they're spending on the average 20 to 40 grand a song or something like that, whatever the crazy stat is.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_00: Versus like if you're an independent musician and you've ever released a song on your own, just one song, to get it written and you want to get it recorded the right way, so you're paying other session musicians, you're doing studio time, you're getting it mastered professionally, then you gotta market it.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_00: And okay, well, I don't have 50 grand to go market my one song.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_00: I'll gotta get smart about it.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_00: So I'd I I really truly believe that I feel like from the industry side, you always hear that noise of like, oh, it's single, single, single.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_00: From the people that are like more independent or small label, I think the appeal of doing singles sometimes is like that's just what you can do.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: You know, the but now that being said, one of my goals is I wanted to do a body of work.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: And so like I'm like come all this way, and I'm just now like in uh in the first week of December, I'm gonna go record like a seven-song uh EP kind of a thing.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_00: I guess it's I guess it's longer than an EP.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_00: So I'll do like seven or eight songs, and I want to do a body of work, you know, and so but like I couldn't, I honestly couldn't have done it like a year ago.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think I could have, it's just would have been too much to like take one all at once.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna lie, I knew that was a loaded question.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I had posed that to um Adam Russell from Story of the Year, from the band Story of the Year a couple weeks ago.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_01: And we were talking about that, and he was talking about how the marketing of an album has changed where albums are still a thing, but you're releasing singles as much as six months to a year before the actual collection of work drops, because of the marketing standpoint of it.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_00: And who and the thing is, like, there's also that like massive luxury of time when that's the case.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_00: Because like if the old formula is you record the album, then you're gonna release it six months to a year later.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_00: Then when the artists go out and tour, they're playing their old stuff plus a mix of new, and they're teasing this album the whole way through, then they release it and then do another tour.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_00: And the well, the and the other side of the coin is too, is now there's a lot more to offer.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_00: Like where before, if you liked Led Zeppelin, you can maybe listen to him on the radio, but you gotta have the record at your house.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_00: Now I can have I can have Philip Bowen or whoever in my living room on my phone, in my pocket, on Instagram.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_00: So people can invest in you as an artist in much in a much broader spectrum of ways than you could have even 10 years ago.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, and there's all that stuff now, like, well, okay, yeah, like it's just so crazy.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_00: Like, okay, yeah, come join my Discord server.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_00: Now you could be a part of that, and then you could be a part of my Instagram, then come to Twitch and you can support me that way, and then I'll come to your town eventually.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's just like it's just like the whole universe has changed in that way where you just have to be ready to try to figure out what you can reasonably do as an indie artist.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have to do it all at once either, you know?
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_01: It's just well, and then going back to an artist that both you and I love, Jason Iswell and the 400 unit, yeah, like I could not imagine.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_01: I call Southeastern something more than free and the Nashville sound his sobriety trilogy.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_01: That's just something I worked up in my head, whether that's true or not.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_01: But I couldn't imagine one of those collections of works at this point without the other, or one of those collections by themselves without the other songs to support those collections, or w without the other songs to support the the songs that surround it.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, I mean I may agree.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_00: Like I could think of lots of maybe albums that I would listen to either in my house growing up or like just and even in c my college years, it was still like a thing to like you know, you go by the CD and you read the liner notes, and I still like doing that if I can.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_00: Like sometimes I get like a vinyl or something, so I can like see all that.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_00: Like literally, right before you did this, somebody sent me a TikTok, and I had the pleasure of playing on Noah Connor.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: He's a really great artist.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I got to play on two songs on that album.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_00: And then, like, one, this song called Halloween.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I did all the composition string work on it.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_00: It was a it was really fun.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_00: And but like you wouldn't know that I was on it.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_00: So this guy was opening up his thing, and the TikTok, he's opening it up and he's like, Oh, it's Philip Bowen.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_00: And he's like, you tagged me.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_00: He's like, I would have never known that was you.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_00: Like, if if I didn't have the liner notes.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_00: So, like, there are so that's cool.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_00: There's if you're like a real fan of the bands and you get those little Easter eggs in the liner notes, it's so cool.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_00: That's such a rad experience.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_00: But I almost feel like I don't know, like, there is something to be said for having that body of work.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_00: Like, if you want to tell a story through an album, and then you have like maybe some of the same session players on that album, and you can kind of get in a groove with each other, and you're working with the same producer on each song.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, I'm I'm looking forward to that process.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_00: I just and I have so much to learn about that stuff still, you know.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_00: So it's just like, I don't know.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's uh it's a crazy, it's a crazy mix of all this different stuff, all these different ways you can go about it.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, for sure.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_01: So are you a physical copy guy?
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_01: Are you collecting vinyl currently?
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_01: No, I don't collect vinyl.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_00: I collect, I used to, I used to hoard like I love reading.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_00: I used to hoard books a lot, like fiction.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_00: And and then we like when we moved, we're like, okay, these boxes is too much.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_00: So we still have like a few bookshelves, but like I hoard like I hoard like I don't know, if I hoard anything, I hoard like um, you know, audiobooks and stuff like that.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_00: But like I I do love listening to records and stuff on vinyl.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_00: I do kind of hoard, I'm a big hats guy.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_00: Love hats.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_00: And I get and I get scent hats constantly now because so like I have like there's a uh behind the camera, there's this one section, and I have um I have this, it's like a bunch of shirts and a bunch of hats.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_00: And the reason why is because like a couple nights a week, all I do is just record content.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_00: I book time to record content, and so I have this beautiful lighting near me.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_00: So I'll just change a hat, change the light so it looks like a different time of day, record another video, change the shirt, another video, change the hat.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_00: So like it's like my little changing station, so I can like do bulk work of stuff like that.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_00: But I have sometimes I'll have my friends come over and like, hey, do you want to do hats?
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_00: You can just shop for some hats, you know, because I have so many hats.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_00: So that's my big thing.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_01: That's amazing.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_01: So a guy that creates as much content as you do, yeah, what is your algorithm on TikTok look like?
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_00: Man, you know, TikTok is so it's so interesting because like sometimes I'll do a video, I'm like, oh, that's gonna kill.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_00: I really feel like that's because it's gonna crush.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_00: And then like, you know, uh I I don't want this to sound cringy at all, but like, so uh okay, I'll I'll tell you how I gauge it now.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_00: So I have almost a million followers.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_00: So once again, I'm not trying to sound cringy with that.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_00: No, no, no, no, not at all.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_00: So I have a million followers, almost, about 50,000 away.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_00: So how I gauge the success of a video is if I post it, if it gets 10,000 views within the first hour on TikTok, then I'm like, okay, this is probably gonna do really good.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_00: If it gets like 50,000 in the first hour or two, then I'm like, okay, that's probably gonna have at least a million views.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_00: And those are like those are more like rare birds.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_00: I probably only have like 20 videos that have done at least a million views.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_00: But like, but the the key with TikTok, like the algorithm, is I think it's just kind of like you just try to keep I try to be fairly consistent.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_00: I do not buy into the thing that you gotta post multiple times a day.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_00: It's impossible for most people.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_00: I post five to six times a week.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um, sometimes I'll do I'll throw duets are really easy, they're not as time consuming.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_00: So sometimes I'll throw a few random duets in there if I see a song I like or something.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_00: And then um, I create all of my content in a platform agnostic tool called CapCut so I can record the video once, and then I will I use a program to just upload it to TikTok, Instagram reels, YouTube Shorts, Twitter, Reddit, all at the same time, Facebook Reels, so that like, and then I can schedule that stuff out.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_00: So I do have um, I do have an admin person that helps me a couple of them now because it's just so busy.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_00: But I I haven't always had that, and the process is the same, you know.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_00: So content, tee it up, and that way if I'm gonna be gone for a few days traveling, that content goes whether I'm in front of the phone or not.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_00: It just goes, it just goes, it just goes.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_00: And then, you know, sometimes I'll see like if there's like a thing happening, like okay, cool, Taylor Swift releases song, and a friend of mine records a cover.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_00: I want to do it, then I can do that really easily without having to set aside time.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm a big process guy, man.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_00: I just like you have to have a process for this stuff, or it's like you will be drowning because I'm I'm a big fan.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_00: I have three young kids.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I want to I I'm a I'm I'm like fiercely protective of my quality of lifetime too.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_00: So I just try to I do a lot of late night work, you know, just because that's the time everybody's asleep and all that kind of stuff, you know.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I was gonna ask if you had an admin helping you out yet because the actual statistics, and I pulled it before we started this.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, you have 207,000 followers on Instagram, 945.8,000 followers on TikTok.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_01: You're almost there, you're so close.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_01: It's not even funny.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_00: What do we gotta do?
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_00: But you know what's crazy?
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_00: What's crazy?
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_00: I was telling somebody this earlier today.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_00: This can just speak to the power of growth once you really get it cooking.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_00: So, like at the beginning of this year, I'm trying to remember the exact number.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_00: In January 1st, I think I had 201,000 followers.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_00: And this is less than 12 months, and now what that's like more than quadrupled on TikTok.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_00: At the beginning of this year, I had 9,000 Instagram followers.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_00: It was like I could, I was having so much trouble growing Instagram, and I just kept hammering away.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_00: And that's like almost it'll it'll be it'll be more than 200,000 followers of growth in one year, and that's 100% organic.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_00: It's uh I don't I don't I've never even run an I mean not to say never, I've run a couple Instagram ads before to provoke promote like a release, but not to get followers, but to just promote a release.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_00: But like it's it's crazy sometimes what you can what can happen with just consistency.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_00: You know, maybe something hits the right way, and then you know, sometimes you can get a few celebrities following you and they'll retweet, you know, or they'll like repost your reels or put them on their stories.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_00: Like some crazy stuff like that's happened where it's like gone like you know, but like it's I I I try to pee I try to treat every piece of content just like I do when I do a live show.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_00: I try to do every live show like it's the most important show I'm doing because I I never know who's watching, truly.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_00: And and I try to do the same thing with the video.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_00: So I try to treat each video like it's gonna get five million plays.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_00: And then if it gets 10,000, whatever.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_00: I'll reuse it sometime, you know?
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_00: But it's just I I just try to approach it like I want each piece to be excellent, and they're not they can't all be the same, but like I try to at least approach it that way, yeah.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_00: So that anybody can run across my page and be like, all right, that's dope.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_00: That's super dope, you know.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_01: What has been your family's response to all of this?
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_00: That's been awesome.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, like my wife, my wife, Jamie, is like a rock star.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_00: She's so amazing.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_00: Like, we have three young kids, and so so um, like she is my balancer, she is like the most supportive person in the world.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_00: Like, she's not a mu a huge music fan, she never has been.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_00: Like, she like you know, but she is just like she supports me by like by allowing me to like have the freedom of movement to do what I need to do.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, the biggest fan in that way, my mother, of course, is like like she legit comes to like every live show I do.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_00: Like, she is like in it to win it, man.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_00: She's like dialed in.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I think a couple times it's been a little weird, has happened like if I'm somewhere with my kids and like somebody's like, Philip, are you are you Philip Bowling?
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_00: Like, can we can't?
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, I'm like, yeah, we can get it, just not them.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_00: Not they won't be in the picture, but I will get one with you.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_00: You know, that's why I never, I mean, I'm not no judgment for people who do.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I you you can look at my Instagram all day and you'll never see a picture of my kids.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_00: I just like I'm weirded out by like some interactions I've received on Instagram and stuff like that.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_00: But like my they're so like they like think it's hilarious, like when people will be like, or they'll you know, come up and ask me about a song I wrote, or you know, whatever.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_00: Or sometimes they'll they will ask, they will ask Alexa, like if I'm traveling, they'll be like, hey Alexa, like you know, ask for me.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_00: And like she'll play like a podcast interview, and they think it's just so like crazy.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_00: And so I don't know, it's family's been really supportive, man.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_00: It's been it's weird, like because you know, you know how it goes, like when you're really kind of trying to get after something, people are like, okay, yeah, great, great, great.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_00: And then it like when you start getting a few big wins, it's like, man, it's crazy.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_00: But I I think the best thing that family can do for you is to really help you keep you grounded, you know, and like you know, all that like good stuff.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_00: So my wife is excellent for that for sure.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_01: That's amazing.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_01: Because going back to what you were talking about, you really make a sensible allotment of your time so you're giving that equal time to them.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I mean, yeah, we we can talk about money replaceable, jobs replaceable, totally, things replaceable.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_01: The most irreplaceable commodity is time.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_01: And it sounds like you're doing a great job managing that, man.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I try like that.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_00: That's that's the reason we live in Detroit right now, still and not Nashville, is because like I've got like I got two kids in elementary school, one's too little for school, and so you know, before we uproot our entire life, like I I would rather be the one that's inconvenienced and and like you know, I can do that.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_00: I'm the adult, like they're not choosing what I'm doing.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_00: And like, I'm not saying we'll never move.
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just saying that like I've talked to just as many very successful nationally touring artists that don't live in town that like do what they need to do.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_00: Now, now I'm not saying that I'm sure I could do a lot more if I was there physically, but you know, I'm down there a ton.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_00: I've I've like I said, I'll treat them as business trips, I'll run it, I'll run it like an Airbnb house or something for like a week.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_00: I'll do as much recording as I can, I'll go play on people's records or do what I need to do, then I come home.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't like to be like, and when I travel for private events, I try to keep those like little tight windows.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because like I said, I have no desire to be gone all the time.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_00: And I've like that's why I'm not uh playing all the time with a band on the road.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_00: Like I've been taught to really people I really admire about that kind of thing, and they're like, well, you know, we're only we'll be gone like 200 days this year, and I'm like, man, and I admire that, like it's such a grind, but my kids are so little, and I just don't have any desire to be gone for 200 nights a year right now.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_00: It's so I don't know, man.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's just it's it's my my whole thing all the time is just like every day, it's just like trying to balance, you know, what like the decision-making process, not like what do I say yes to, what do I commit myself to, you know, all those type of things are hard to navigate sometimes.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely they are.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_01: So who are some artists that have inspired you over the years?
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_00: I would say one for sure.
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_00: I I say this every time I get asked this question.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_00: One is James Taylor.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_00: I love James Taylor, and the reason why I love James Taylor so much is because like a lot of my originals too, like are that in that way.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_00: Like I um I love really great storytelling and music.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_00: And I might my dad and mom had like a best of it was like a white best of James Taylor CD, and I had like a CD player I'd listen to in the car, like one of those like you know, walk-in CD players.
• 33:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I remember how we would like we'd just take a bunch with us in the car for these road trips, and I remember like sitting in the back of our big van listening to that, and the first song I remember ever like really dialing in on the lyrics with is Copper Line by James Taylor.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_00: I was like thinking about it, and I could almost like visualize being there.
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_00: So like I love his his just style, it's so beautiful.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_00: I love John Mayer for his for his musicianship.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um, really fantastic.
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_00: There's a band called Um The Milk Carton Kids that I love.
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, super talented.
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_00: Same with like Lake Street Dive, like um uh Rachel Price is the singer, and she's got like this like old soul voice, she's incredible.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_00: So, I mean, I really have a broad, I'm very eclectic.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_00: I I love hip hop, I love um, but my favorite genre is probably like that Americana you know, folk genre.
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um country, I like I like like I don't love pop country, even though I have a lot of friends that do it and I play on some of those records.
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not as passionate about that as I am for like you know, uh as I am for like some of the more like Americana, you know, stuff with traditional instruments and things like that.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't know, man.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_00: I have a really broad, a really broad stroke of people that I enjoy though.
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_01: The alt country genre is you know, I played in rock and punk bands for years, and then and then I spent the entire last year that I was in this, the last rock band I was in.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_01: Our very last show was playing with Avenged Sevenfold and Three Days Grace that's these carry rounds in Iowa.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_01: I love it, love it.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_01: And so I spent the whole last year listening to Ryan Adams, Jason Isbel, and Jay Z.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_01: I love it.
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, Jason Isbel is like, man, dude, he's what a songwriter.
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_00: What a songwriter.
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_00: Changed my life.
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, it's just like really beautiful stuff, and like what I love about Jason Isbel too is like I love how his voice like is so unique.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_00: Like you wouldn't you wouldn't normally qualify that and be like, man, like like he wouldn't go win the voice.
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_00: Like he doesn't have that like classical pop voice or something, but it's like so perfect for the style of music that he is writing, and uh, I love that.
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_00: I just love like how just unique it is, it's so good.
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_01: Well, it almost it also lends to the authenticity of the stories that he's telling as well.
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_00: 100%.
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_00: He's just doing he's just doing like they're just doing their thing, and like they have some obviously their band is like full of really great musicians, but like he's such a joy to listen to for sure.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_01: Would would you ever become the touring fiddle player for the 400 year old?
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_00: Oh man, I would love to play with those guys.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_00: I would love to play with those guys.
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I really would.
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I I I always try not to like uh offend my fellow artists when I say stuff like that about like not because like I was just recently there's an artist that you should know from I don't know if you've heard of his music or not.
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_00: He's from West Virginia, he's touring with Zach Bryan right now, and his name is uh Charles Wesley Godwin, and he is so good, dude.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_00: This guy is like he's so great, really genuine, nice guy, too.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_00: And we were having the same conversation you and I were having, and he has like a little, yeah, a young, oh I think I think one young kid and one more in the way, or two young kids.
• 36:58
  SPEAKER_00: But either way, um he was talking about like what a struggle it is sometimes to just be away and like get like back when you can.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_00: And I was just like, man, like I don't know, I don't know if that's for me.
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_00: Although I'm just not sure.
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know, man.
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_00: It's just like, but if I could put Jason Isbel, that'd be a hard one to say no to.
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_01: Right, right, right.
• 37:15
  SPEAKER_01: Have you ever listened to uh Gregory Allen Isaachoff?
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I love him.
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_01: Me too, me too.
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_01: I'm surprised he's not more you know famous than what he is.
• 37:24
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and kind of kind of in that in that in that year time frame of like Avenge Sevenfold, like that punk scene, like when I was in college, maybe, or like like uh very early college, it was kind of coming to an end, maybe was like bands like uh Copeland or Anne Berlyn, May.
• 37:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 37:44
  SPEAKER_00: I love like I went to I saw Copeland like at least three or four times, and one of my favorite bands, I'm I can't believe I almost forgot.
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_00: I always try to mention these guys.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_00: One of my favorite bands of all time, ever, any genre, is this band called Frightened Rabbit, and they are a Scottish like now.
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_00: Unfortunately, their lead singer passed away a couple years ago.
• 38:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but dude, man, their stuff is so good.
• 38:07
  SPEAKER_00: It is so it's like that Scottish rock, but they but it's like the songwriting is powerful and depressing, you know.
• 38:14
  SPEAKER_00: It's so good, so yeah.
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, that's oh man, I you dropped the Anne Berlin card.
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_01: Anne Berlin.
• 38:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I poof.
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_01: I so good.
• 38:25
  SPEAKER_01: Steven Christian is one of those guys that he is that nice guy.
• 38:30
  SPEAKER_01: You talked about needing is.
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, like I went and I saw Anne Berlin and Story of the Year in Kansas City a couple years back, and I was just we left the the venue, and I saw Stephen Christian walk out of another bar just by happenstance.
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_01: And he stood there and just you know, shot the breeze with me for a good hour, hour and a half.
• 38:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, in the middle of yes, yeah, yeah.
• 38:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, he's really he's super nice.
• 38:59
  SPEAKER_00: One of my best friends in college, my best friend Derek, went to school with Nate, who was the drummer for Amberland, because they were from Florida.
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_00: Nate was at least, and like we used to go, like, because I was in Tampa Bay, like all these bands would come through either Tampa or Orlando, which was an hour and a half away.
• 39:15
  SPEAKER_00: So like we would go to concerts like like all the time, and that's what I saw Fret and Rabbit like three times in Florida, just throughout the times that like you know, just I thought like everybody comes through Orlando because it's like such a touristy, you know, place.
• 39:28
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, I mean that whole scene was really good, like lots of really good music in that little era, you know?
• 39:34
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely, absolutely.
• 39:37
  SPEAKER_01: So, what inspires you to be better tomorrow than what you were today?
• 39:45
  SPEAKER_00: You know, uh for a long time I didn't think I would find anything.
• 39:49
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I've worked for for entrepreneurs before, and like they're just like they eat, sleep, and breathe their like product or their website or whatever it is that they work with.
• 39:59
  SPEAKER_00: And I'd be like, man, like I just don't care that much.
• 40:01
  SPEAKER_00: Like you can you can answer your emails at 11 o'clock at night.
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not doing that.
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't care about this is work, you know?
• 40:07
  SPEAKER_00: And I I finally with music, like it's not that it doesn't feel like hard work sometimes, but whenever I'm doing something for music, I am so excited to do it.
• 40:17
  SPEAKER_00: Like it doesn't feel like you know, it doesn't feel like I'm going to work.
• 40:21
  SPEAKER_00: It feels like I'm like doing the music is the fun part.
• 40:24
  SPEAKER_00: The admin stuff can be kind of boring, and so I think what inspires me is every time you kind of see a little win, little or big, like that inspires you to kind of like that's that is honestly kind of the drug, is like when you are able to see people emote through your music.
• 40:40
  SPEAKER_00: Like um, I was playing a show at Third and Lindsley in Nashville in August, and I sang this song called Stella, and and I saw people there with like my merch on in the crowd.
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, this is crazy.
• 40:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I was doing a little bit of a longer instrumental before the chorus, and so somebody in the audience jumped the chorus and they started singing the lyrics, and that's the first time that had ever happened to me where somebody that was like completely unrelated to me, just a fan, started singing lyrics back to me that I had written.
• 41:13
  SPEAKER_00: And I almost I almost like was like I like that I was choked up.
• 41:19
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it was just like so special.
• 41:20
  SPEAKER_00: Like, that is what motivates me to do it, is that like when you could see how maybe your music moves people or people will tell you like how it's helped them through a certain time or or whatever.
• 41:30
  SPEAKER_00: Like, it's just such a joy.
• 41:32
  SPEAKER_00: Nothing, yeah, besides like my family, like nothing brings me that kind of joy at all.
• 41:35
  SPEAKER_00: Like, not even close.
• 41:37
  SPEAKER_00: So that's that's what drives me.
• 41:39
  SPEAKER_01: That's amazing.
• 41:40
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, a few nights ago, I was on a walk with my wife, and I had the headphones in, and I cued up some of your music.
• 41:48
  SPEAKER_01: The song Anymore came up.
• 41:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 41:50
  SPEAKER_01: And that first verse, where you talk about wearing your grandfather's watch, it about stopped me dead in my tracks because I'm walking with my wife, who I a few years ago she lost her grandfather.
• 42:03
  SPEAKER_01: She is incredibly, incredibly close to that man.
• 42:09
  SPEAKER_01: She talks about him at least two to three times every single day.
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_01: And I took out my earphone and I was just like, listen to this.
• 42:18
  SPEAKER_01: Listen to this song.
• 42:19
  SPEAKER_01: This is what you're all up.
• 42:20
  SPEAKER_01: This you're gonna be all about this.
• 42:22
  SPEAKER_01: So we finished our walk, and I remember how we probably she we finished the song, she hands me the headphone back, she goes, I could listen to that every day.
• 42:31
  SPEAKER_01: And so I wanted to pay that that's a good thing.
• 42:34
  SPEAKER_01: You forgot me that.
• 42:34
  SPEAKER_01: That's super kind.
• 42:35
  SPEAKER_01: That's super kind.
• 42:37
  SPEAKER_01: It just it was, you know, you kind of recalling that memory that you have in your song inspired a memory for somebody else.
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_01: And I I I thought it was important that you knew that.
• 42:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's I love hearing stories like that.
• 42:51
  SPEAKER_00: Like when people will tell me things like that in regards to like that song, especially when I played that at the Bluebird, it was kind of like something I just played like a happy song.
• 43:01
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, Alright, I got this song I wrote for my grandpa, and I had the watch with me.
• 43:04
  SPEAKER_00: So I like I was like, here's the watch.
• 43:05
  SPEAKER_00: I told the story about the watch, like like how it actually uh had happened, and then I sang the song, and like people were like, people were like wiping their eyes, like you know, I think I think a lot of people have that kind of either with a parent or a grandparent, you know, where like and like with that one, it was just like I legit, it's upstairs right now, but this beautiful girl watched them.
• 43:27
  SPEAKER_00: It's my grandmother and grandfather's 50th anniversary watch, and it's like what he had left to me, and I have it on my desk as like a timepiece.
• 43:36
  SPEAKER_00: And so I was writing a completely different song, and I'm looking at that to see what time it is, and it stopped.
• 43:42
  SPEAKER_00: Like, as I was looking at it, my grandfather had at that time been passed away for about a year, and I don't know why, but like it just felt like it was like he was really gone, you know, like it really hit me in a weird way.
• 43:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I remember this conversation he had had, which is like the lyrics to the song about like when my grandmother died.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_00: He looked at me at the graveyard and he was smiling because he's had such a long couple of days and he's like, they'll never make him like her anymore.
• 44:06
  SPEAKER_00: That's what he said to me.
• 44:07
  SPEAKER_00: And I wrote it down.
• 44:08
  SPEAKER_00: And then, of course, like that I had forgotten about it.
• 44:11
  SPEAKER_00: And then like the watch broke, it hit me.
• 44:13
  SPEAKER_00: And that's one of those examples of like I wrote I wrote 95% of that song in about 15 minutes.
• 44:18
  SPEAKER_00: It just was like, it was like, it was like it was given to me, like just bam, like boom, there it is.
• 44:24
  SPEAKER_00: And it wrote it, it almost like wrote itself.
• 44:26
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it was like a gift.
• 44:28
  SPEAKER_00: It was so cool.
• 44:29
  SPEAKER_00: Like, and so I that one is like my probably my has the most special place in my heart for sure.
• 44:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's crazy how things can kind of in serendipity can kind of fall in place like that sometimes, isn't it?
• 44:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 44:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it is.
• 44:45
  SPEAKER_00: At the right time, but and that's like one of those things like you kind of gotta be present to win.
• 44:48
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 44:49
  SPEAKER_00: So like that was a day I didn't feel like I just didn't feel like doing music at all.
• 44:53
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, well, I mean, I'll just try to finish this one verse and you know, and then I end up writing this song that like is one of my favorite things I've ever written, and I and I almost didn't do anything that day with music.
• 45:03
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's just it's just weird how those things work.
• 45:07
  SPEAKER_00: That's amazing.
• 45:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's weird how it works sometimes.
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_01: That is amazing.
• 45:11
  SPEAKER_01: So you're on this three-year journey.
• 45:13
  SPEAKER_01: We've covered this.
• 45:15
  SPEAKER_01: Where do you see yourself six months from now?
• 45:19
  SPEAKER_01: One year from now.
• 45:22
  SPEAKER_00: Well, there there are two like performance things that I would love to do that would be really special to me.
• 45:30
  SPEAKER_00: One is this uh thing called a Mountain Stage, and it's it's uh put up it's like an NPR thing, but it's run out of West Virginia, and every artist I've ever admired has been invited to do Mountain Stage, and so it would be very special for me too, because that's not only is my home state, it's like my hometown, like the Charleston area.
• 45:48
  SPEAKER_00: And so if I ever got an invite to go play that, I would be amazed.
• 45:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but where I'll maybe see myself in six months will be um, I don't know.
• 45:59
  SPEAKER_00: I like I I will have released an album, which will be a big accomplishment for me.
• 46:04
  SPEAKER_00: And I will, I'm I'm working on some like kind of mini touring for next year, like regional kind of touring.
• 46:10
  SPEAKER_00: I'm trying to figure out logistics for that.
• 46:12
  SPEAKER_00: So hopefully I will have played a bundle of like in-person live shows and have got to perform my album for people.
• 46:19
  SPEAKER_00: And then maybe a year from now, I will hope to um to do maybe like a couple other collaborations that like are kind of in the works that I hope really turn out because I think it'd be really special to do next year.
• 46:32
  SPEAKER_00: And um I don't know.
• 46:34
  SPEAKER_00: I my my big my big goal, I don't know, I don't know the time frame for this, but my big goal like performance-wise, I'd be like, I'd love to play a song I wrote like at the Opry, like in the circle.
• 46:43
  SPEAKER_00: Nice.
• 46:43
  SPEAKER_00: I'm hoping that that could happen one day.
• 46:45
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I would love to just be able to just it just just give me one song, like that I've just let me go up there and play one.
• 46:51
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't know, man.
• 46:52
  SPEAKER_00: I just I don't know.
• 46:53
  SPEAKER_00: I I just take it a day at a day at a time.
• 46:55
  SPEAKER_00: Like whatever happens, happens, I'm just trying to grind and we'll see, you know, just trying to be ready for whatever whatever comes, you know.
• 47:03
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 47:03
  SPEAKER_01: So given the state of the world the past few years, sure, what is one piece of advice for making the world a better place through Philip Bowen's eyes?
• 47:15
  SPEAKER_00: I would say that you should try kindness because it looks good on everybody.
• 47:23
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that there's been so many moments that like people have shown a random act of kindness to me where it turned my whole day around or my whole week around, and vice versa.
• 47:35
  SPEAKER_00: You know, like we're maybe just like try trying to assume good intent with the people that we interact with, our neighbors.
• 47:42
  SPEAKER_00: Like you never know what somebody's going through.
• 47:44
  SPEAKER_00: And that's like my wife is a very empathetic person.
• 47:48
  SPEAKER_00: Like she's not she's more like um, she's not as outgoing as I am, she's but she is so like thoughtful and considerate, and so like sometimes my temper can run.
• 47:57
  SPEAKER_00: Like I'm I'm such a go, go, go, blah, blah, blah.
• 48:00
  SPEAKER_00: And I sometimes I just I I tend to have trouble seeing that deeper level of people.
• 48:05
  SPEAKER_00: And so I don't know.
• 48:06
  SPEAKER_00: I th I think before, I don't know, I must be just like try to assume good intent.
• 48:11
  SPEAKER_00: You never know what somebody has going on or what they've gone through.
• 48:14
  SPEAKER_00: And um, you know, just try to try to be kind, just try your best to be kind.
• 48:20
  SPEAKER_01: I think there's gonna be a lot of lessons people can learn from you through listening to this episode.
• 48:26
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, aside from the kindness, the genuine nature of your bravado and who Philip Bowen is.
• 48:34
  SPEAKER_01: There's a big lesson to be learned here about taking bets on yourself and setting goals and you know, seeing those goals through.
• 48:45
  SPEAKER_01: You have followers in Pat McAfee, Joey Fatone, Christian McCaffrey now.
• 48:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's my boy.
• 48:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yep, yep.
• 48:54
  SPEAKER_01: It is amazing.
• 48:56
  SPEAKER_01: Did you see this happening three years ago?
• 48:59
  SPEAKER_00: No, I would of course, you know, I think anybody that's ever written a song or played an instrument has had that moment where you're like sitting in your room and you're like, and the crowd goes wild.
• 49:08
  SPEAKER_00: You know, like you know, you're thinking, like, wouldn't that be cool?
• 49:12
  SPEAKER_00: But I mean, when I tell you that, like, this is the truth.
• 49:14
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I like some of my early YouTube videos, you can see it too.
• 49:17
  SPEAKER_00: I literally would have, I'm holding up my iPhone, but like I have my iPhone, I would lean it against my old computer, which was like burning super hot like the sun, and I would put a pillow sheet over a desk lamp and put it on a table, like so it was like this to get myself some lighting.
• 49:35
  SPEAKER_00: And like the song Lightning Bugs that's on Spotify of mine, I had no idea what I was doing with recording a song.
• 49:41
  SPEAKER_00: So I got like a cheap mic before I got like a nice one, and I recorded five full video one takes of the song.
• 49:49
  SPEAKER_00: Me doing, okay, here's me singing the melody, here's the guitar, here's the fiddle, here's uh blah blah blah.
• 49:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I put it all together in iMovie and stacked it up and tried my best to mix the audio with iMovie, and I released it just to get a song out the door.
• 50:04
  SPEAKER_00: And that song has done so well.
• 50:06
  SPEAKER_00: People are like, oh, it's such a cool live cut.
• 50:08
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, oh, thank you.
• 50:09
  SPEAKER_00: But like, it's like the point of me saying that is that if you wait until uh if you wait until circumstances are perfect, you'll never get anything done.
• 50:19
  SPEAKER_00: Nothing.
• 50:19
  SPEAKER_00: And so like you work with the tools that you have, and I'm telling you, if I can do it, anybody can it anybody can put in the work, you know?
• 50:28
  SPEAKER_00: And so, like, okay, and then after some things went well, okay, cool, I finally got a microphone.
• 50:33
  SPEAKER_00: Then I figured out, oh, I need an interface for that.
• 50:35
  SPEAKER_00: Well, how do I do it?
• 50:36
  SPEAKER_00: How do I do that?
• 50:37
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I need a mixing board, not an interface, blah blah blah blah.
• 50:39
  SPEAKER_00: All those things, and it's like, okay, I'll try that, I'll try that, I'll try that.
• 50:42
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I need a real camera, okay, cool.
• 50:44
  SPEAKER_00: But like, you know, it's just as you can tell, I'm very passionate about it.
• 50:48
  SPEAKER_00: But like, I think when you go through it in that way, versus somebody handing you like a contract and saying, all right, cool, let's go to the best studio in Nashville, record everything here.
• 50:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I think that that doing it this way really teaches you the value of like, okay, like I like I worked so hard for like this for this company to partner with me to send me this nice mic.
• 51:10
  SPEAKER_00: I would have never even known this mic existed three years ago.
• 51:13
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 51:14
  SPEAKER_00: Like, anyways, so I I've I just I don't I didn't see it like just like this, but I was hoping for success.
• 51:21
  SPEAKER_00: That's what I was like working for, you know.
• 51:23
  SPEAKER_01: That's amazing.
• 51:25
  SPEAKER_01: And to my listeners, please go follow Philip Bowen on TikTok, on Instagram, wherever you can follow him, check him out on Spotify, go to his website, it's Philip Bowenmusic.com, correct?
• 51:40
  SPEAKER_01: That's it, that's it.
• 51:40
  SPEAKER_01: Philip Bowenmusic.com.
• 51:42
  SPEAKER_01: Nailed it.
• 51:43
  SPEAKER_01: 1L.
• 51:43
  SPEAKER_01: 1L1L.
• 51:44
  SPEAKER_01: That's it.
• 51:47
  SPEAKER_01: Nice man.
• 51:48
  SPEAKER_01: I tell you what, I am so happy we got to make this happen.
• 51:53
  SPEAKER_01: I enjoyed this conversation.
• 51:55
  SPEAKER_01: Philip, the world's a better place with you and it, my friend.
• 51:58
  SPEAKER_00: Oh man, right back at you.
• 51:59
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 52:00
  SPEAKER_00: I really appreciate it.
• 52:00
  SPEAKER_00: I love doing, I love having these kind of conversations on podcasts, and thank you for having me.
• 52:04
  SPEAKER_00: I really appreciate it.
• 52:05
  SPEAKER_01: Once again, I'd like to thank my friend Philip Bowen for doing the show.
• 52:10
  SPEAKER_01: Make sure you check him out at PhilipBowenmusic.com.
• 52:16
  SPEAKER_01: Give him a follow on TikTok.
• 52:18
  SPEAKER_01: He does lives pretty much every night and he takes requests.
• 52:23
  SPEAKER_01: It's phenomenal.
• 52:24
  SPEAKER_01: Check him out.
• 52:25
  SPEAKER_01: If you get a few moments, make sure you're following me on social media on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and Twitter.
• 52:33
  SPEAKER_01: Just search Caught on the mic with Michael Clark and hit me up at www.cotonhemic.com.
• 52:44
  SPEAKER_01: Hopefully I get around to updating the website sooner rather than later.
• 52:50
  SPEAKER_01: Make sure you shoot me an email at cotonhemic at gmail.com as well.
• 52:54
  SPEAKER_01: I'd love to hear from you.
• 52:56
  SPEAKER_01: This has been Caught on the Mike with Michael Clark.
• 53:00
  SPEAKER_01: I'm Michael Clark.
• 53:02
  SPEAKER_01: Until next time, thank you.