Gretchen Bowder

Banjo

Gretchen Bowder has been on the Boston music scene for the past 30 years. She’s been a member of numerous bands on electric bass, vocals, and guitar, but she is known mostly for her work on the BANJO.

Gretchen plays 3-finger style and relishes everything from classic bluegrass to Newgrass, fiddle tunes, Western Swing, Bossa Nova, and jazz of the Great American Songbook. She gives private lessons and teaches at music camps.

You can hear Gretchen perform with a number of New England-area bands, including

The Hazel Project The Bagboys Mudsills Local Freight

Upcoming Shows

Wed Oct 23 - Mudsills at Nick-a-Nees, Providence, RI. 8-11pm

Sun Oct 27 - Mudsills at the Plough & Stars, Cambridge, MA. 4-6pm

Wed Nov 6 - the Hazel Project at the Newburyport Brewing Co., Newburyport, MA 6-9pm. (Event by GIRL JAM - a celebration of women in music.)

Sun Nov 17 - Listen for the Hazel Project on NHPR (New Hampshire Public Radio, Concord, NH) at noon.

Tues Nov 19 - At Lily P’s in Cambridge, 7pm, with Emma Turoff & Friends.

Sun Nov 24 - Mudsills at the Plough & Stars, Cambridge, MA. 4-6pm

Tues Dec 17 - At Lily P’s in Cambridge, 7pm, Mills plays Mills - a Tribute to Jim Mills

Sun Dec 22 - The Bagboys at Nippo Lake Bluegrass Series, Barrington, NH 6-8pm. Holiday show!

Sun Jan 12 - The Hazel Project at Nippo Lake Bluegrass Series, Barrington, NH 6-8pm

Teaching

A former middle and elementary school teacher, Gretchen’s teaching style is hands-on and rooted in developing and practicing actionable skills. Gretchen offers private lessons both in person and on Zoom. She also gives workshops at area music camps such as  Banjo Camp North and the Ossipee Valley String Camp.

Photo by Lynne Fountain

Contact Gretchen by clicking HERE

Videos

A new venture for me! I wrote and performed this music for voice actor Todd Weekley's reading of Walt Whitman's Song of Myself 52. The banjo is a Deering Julia Belle (tuned to low E). The guitar is a Martin 00-28.

I played Jobim’s Wave at Blue Ridge Banjo Camp 2023 with a masterful backing band: Casey Campbell, Casey Driessen, Bryan McDowell, and Mark Schatz. What a thrill!

Vernon Derrick wrote this tune while he was playing in Jimmy Martin's Sunny Mountain Boys. He named it after his hometown of Arab, Alabama. The town was so named after a county clerk incorrectly transcribed the name “Arad” into the records to incorporate the town.

Thursday morning pajama session. I've been working out various versions of this tune, both with and without a capo. Here's a (mostly) down-the-neck version at capo 2. Next up - finding up-the-neck variations.

Some fun at Blue Ridge Banjo Camp playing a snippet of John Reischman’s Little Pine Siskin with Lluis Gómez and Jake Schepps.

Two Irish jigs: Fly in the Porter + Gan Ainm. I learned them from the playing of Dave Cory and Eliot Grasso on their album North by NorthWest. These are challenging! The fingering in the left hand is very specific, and there are some tricky passages for my right hand too.

Oh hey, I used to play bass in this super cool rock band called Inner Beauty back in the early 1990’s.

You can hear us here:

Inner Beauty Boston on Reverb Nation