You already have four acclaimed albums under your belt, became the youngest Juno nominated artist in the history of Canada (Age 14), Form a rapidly growing international fan base. Time to rest on your laurels, surely? Not if you are Jimmy Bowskill. This blues-rock phenomenon instead pledges to work even harder at perfecting the craft that has been his passion from before he hit his teens.
Over the last few years, Jimmy Bowskill has played support gigs for some of the biggest names in rock, including Dickey Betts, ZZ Top, and Paul Rodgers. ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons sought Jimmy out to congratulate him on his set at a London Ontario festival, and he has become friends with Rodgers. Their seal of approval is especially gratifying to Jimmy, as he cites Gibbons, Freddie King and Paul Kossoff (of Rodgers band Free) as his three biggest current influences as a guitarist, while Rodgers and Otis Redding are his favourite vocalists.
The entire Canadian blues community was quick to realise Jimmy Bowskill was the real deal. The cast list of those contributing to his debut album, Old Soul, reads like a Who’s Who of Canadian blues players, with the likes of Jack de Keyzer, Danny Marks, Downchild’s Pat Carey, Chuck Jackson and Donnie Walsh, Jerome Godboo and . A year later, Bowskill returned to Alec Fraser’s Toronto studio, Liquid, where, accompanied by an ace band comprising Al Cross (Big Sugar), Godboo, and Fraser, he recorded his second album Soap Bars & Dog Ears. Ten convincing originals fit snugly alongside covers of John Lee Hooker, Willie Dixon, and Al Green, and the record earned Jimmy a Juno Award nomination.
This young Canadian is a triple threat. He’s a guitarist of power and finesse, a soulful and supple-singer, and a compelling songwriter. All these assets, plus his intense performance style, are vividly showcased on Jimmy’s new album, The Jimmy Bowskill Band- Live. Recorded in a theatre in his hometown of Peterborough, Ontario.
As The Jimmy Bowskill Band – this is a sound best experienced live. “The energy of the live show is huge,” Jimmy explains. “It always gets a little intense from my standpoint, and I always put a lot into it.
