Guitarist, keyboardist, singer and songwriter Coy Bowles has been a member of the Zac Brown Band since 2007, co-writing hits like “Colder Weather” and “Knee Deep” and winning a trio of Grammys along the way.
But when he's not lighting up the stages with ZBB's signature freewheeling, jam-band vibe, Bowles makes music for another audience: kids.
In 2020, Bowles released his first children's album, Music for tiny people. On Friday, a follow-up call was released Up and Upcreating the album's 13 children's songs with partner Carlos Sosa, who has also toured with the Zac Brown Band.
The album includes songs such as “Dance, Dance, Dance”, “I'm Hungry”, “See the World in Color” and “The Clean Up Song”, the latter of which was inspired by a friend who was tired of hearing the same song to be sung over and over again when it was time for the children to clean up the classroom. At the same time, Bowles and Sosa were talking about Run-DMC's 1987 classic “It's Tricky,” admiring its production and how modern and catchy the song is, nearly four decades after its release. Bowles wanted to write children's music that sounded modern and sonically matched some of the tunes and beats the kids were hearing around them. He also wanted to avoid what he calls “toxic positivity.”
“These songs aren't always just sunshine every day,” he says Bulletin board. “The song 'How Do You Feel' is about hard things. It's not toxic positivity. There are actually songs about “I miss my mom” or “I'm so sad right now, but I know things will change and we all go through things.”
The album also has many quiet moments, such as “I'm Hungry”, inspired by Bowles' daughters Hattie and Millie.
“They would come and listen to a song and say, 'Dad, I like it. I'm hungry,'” Bowles recalled. “I'd give them some food, we'd work more on a song, and they'd come down later, listen to it and say, 'Oh, it's even better now. Dad, I'm hungry.' Then Carlos would say, “Dude, is that all they're saying?” So we started making children's voices and saying: “I'm hungry, I'm hungry.” And he looked at me and said, “Man, this is really good.” So him and I, because we're a place where there aren't a lot of rules and regulations when we write this stuff and humor can be a part of it, it just turned into this cool, funny song about being hungry. So the kids had a lot to do with it and influenced the direction.”
The Bowles Albums Up and Up and Music for tiny people has been expanding his creative work into writing and publishing children's books since 2012, when the book Amy Giggles, Laugh out loudbased on the story of a friend who was bullied for her laugh as a child.
“I've been writing songs all my life. I got to a place where I was on a tour bus with 12 people and you really can't write songs by yourself — there's no corner to go and write,” he says. “There's always someone around, so I started writing whatever came into my head. I started writing short stories and jotting down things that were happening with the band in a journal. I felt it kept me healthy, mentally and creatively. Zac [Brown] he had three children at the time, and I showed him some things I wrote. He said, “This would be a great children's book. I have three children and we read books all the time.”
Amy Giggles, Laugh out loud resonated with readers. “He started connecting with teachers because of the anti-bullying sentiment. I didn't have kids at the time and I didn't know many teachers at the time when it came to early education, but I started getting posts on Facebook about them having “Amy Giggles Day” in their classrooms and kids dressing up as Amy Giggles. I started connecting with teachers to create content for their classrooms and it just expanded from there.”
Since then, he has released books including When you feel sick, Will Powers: Where there's a will, there's a wayand Behind the Little Red Door. Bowles has even done some public speaking to encourage teachers.
“Almost everyone who is successful in life has someone who cared about them. And some people, the only person in their life who protects them and guides them with love is their teacher,” he says. “I think they are sometimes overlooked and I want to make it my life's goal to shine a light on teachers and let them know how important they are to our society now and in the future.”
Bowles has always been connected to the education system — he was a guitar and voice teacher for eight years — but for the past five years, he's been actively providing content that parents and educators can use at home and in their classrooms, including a social-emotional kit learning with Lakeshore Learning that incorporated songs from his first children's album.
“That was successful and it's in many classes, so we decided to do another one with Lakeshore and the music we were writing about Up and Up is part of it. We were talking to teachers and they said they would like to have transition songs, songs that mark different times of the day. We have a song about washing hands, a song about leaving school to go home. But so many people who do that try to do it too early and we tried not to do that.”
He has deepened his focus on providing music and content for children through his company called CoyCo (Creative Opportunity Yields Creative Output), offering a range of products such as worksheets, Lakeshore learning kits that focus on topics such as social-emotional learning, language and literacy. and his previously published books.
“My goal is to be one of the most agile companies, hopefully creating content that is sustainable for what teachers are going through,” Bowles says. “Because we self-publish, there's not a lot of red tape. If I sit down with teachers and they say, “We're seeing mental health difficulties right now,” a few months later I can have a book and some songs and videos ready to play in the classroom or at home. My goal is to be a leading content creator in the field of education and in the field of children.”
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/music/country/zac-brown-band-coy-bowles-up-and-up-kids-album-1235820603/
