Ralston Bowles and Drew Nelson 

Ralston Bowles has been a fixture on the western Michigan music scene since 1970, helping the Grand Rapids music scene to flourish while encouraging national artists to make Grand Rapids a tour stop on their schedules. He is the host of the Frederik Meijer Gardens Tuesday Evening Music Club and a supporter of numerous charities through benefit concerts, he has performed with the Hothouse Flowers, T-Bone Burnett, Shawn Colvin and the Del McCoury Band.

In 2004 Bowles released a debut album, Carwreck Conversations. It was produced by Marvin Etzioni (former member of Lone Justice and producer of Counting Crows, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Peter Case and Grey DeLisle).  It was recognized with three Jammie Awards in Grand Rapids: “album of the year”, “best folk album” and “artist of the year.”

Ralston is working on a new album with Etzioni producing.  The album has been recorded in Austin Texas and features numerous special guest including Gurf Morlix (Lucinda Williams) and Charlie Sexton.

This past summer he and Drew Nelson performed at the Falcon Ridge Emerging Artists  Showcase in New York.  They were the only Michigan artists selected to perform.

 Drew Nelson has a gift – the ability to extract spirit and soul from the jumble of modern life, and turn it into music. His first full-lengthalbum, “Immigrant Son,” doesn’t convey a black-and-white world of joy and anger, but rather, a colorful mélange of complex emotions expressed in blues, grays, greens and browns.

His itinerant lifestyle filled his notebook with ideas, and upon returning home, he found his voice in the small struggles and triumphs of daily life. His songs made a mark in his home state, attracting listeners with his word paintings, his humble insights, his unpretentious singing, his thoughtful strumming, and, most importantly, his honesty. Drew’s focus and dedication to his art brought him to Alaska, through Texas, to the Kerrville Folk Festival, to 18,000 fans at the Muskegon Summer Celebration (opening for Melissa Etheridge), to the recognition of the New Folk Contest for Emerging Songwriters, where he was a finalist.

And now, to “Immigrant Son,” the product of two years of writing and three weeks in the studio with longtime friend and noted West Michigan producer and engineer Michael Crittenden. Although embellished by colorful instrumental textures (including fiddle, mandolin, tin whistle and, yes, a jangly cat toy), the record adheres to Drew’s man-with-a-guitar ethic.