Wade Bowen

 When I went to see the Randy Rogers Band play at the state fair this summer, Wade Bowen was the opening act. I had never even heard of him, but I instantly fell in love with his music. My friends and I all agreed that he was so good we didn't know why he was opening for anyone, and even if no one else came out and played for us that night, we were just glad to have gotten to see him.

Since that night I obviously added Wade Bowen to my Grooveshark, Spotify, and every other music account I have, and haven't been able to stop listening to him all semester. I had no idea how established and well known of an artist he really is but I'm so glad I finally stumbled upon his music.

Wade is originally from Waco, Texas and started his musical career in a band called West 84. I was excited to find out that he is a fellow public relations major! Though after graduating from Texas Tech he decided to go out on his own and released the album Try Not To Listen in 2002. The album climbed to the Top Ten on the Texas music chart and he was playing over 200 shows a year.

On his latest album, The Given, Wade has a lot of sad ballads and has commented before that the sad ones are truly his passion. I can tell that this is true because of how his lyrics always hit home, plus his voice portrays the emotions just right. He is seriously an amazing songwriter. Just take a listen to "A Battle Won" or "All That's Left," and you'll feel the mood he sets, I swear.

Wade has done nothing but continue to rise to stardom, at least in the red dirt development. I think he will eventually make it onto mainstream radio, but I could be wrong. He is such an interesting artist because he seems so likable and down-to-earth, yet I get the vibe he is still on his way to something bigger.

Another interesting fact about Wade is that Cody Canada, of Cross Canadian Ragweed, is his brother-in-law. That's something I really love about this genre of music is that everyone seems to be a big family, always supporting and helping each other out. Sometimes they are quite literally family such as in this case or like how Stoney LaRue and Bo Phillip are actually brothers as well. 

If I haven't persuaded you to go listen to Wade Bowen right now then I'm very sorry for not doing my job right. I'm mostly sorry for you though because it's your loss if you don't...so go listen!

For upcoming events take a gander at the Official Wade Bowen site http://www.wadebowen.com/events.