Colder Weather & Warmer Hearts: Music, Family, and Purpose

It takes heart to turn creativity into a calling. For Grammy-winning guitarist, songwriter, and children’s author Coy Bowles, that journey began in Thomaston, Georgia — a blue-collar Southern town where love, laughter, and hard work set the rhythm of life. From front porches to global stages with the Zac Brown Band, Coy’s story is a soulful mix of family, faith, and following your purpose.

Bowles’ life and work form a single composition — every note connected by a lifelong devotion to storytelling. Whether it’s writing Colder Weather and Knee Deep, reading bedtime stories to his daughters, or authoring children’s books that teach kids how to dream big, his rhythm hasn’t changed much since those early days in Thomaston: love what you do, stay curious, and never stop learning.

FAMILY: Growing Up in a Blue-Collar Version of The Wonder Years

For Bowles, childhood in Thomaston felt like “a broke, blue-collar version of The Wonder Years.” He grew up riding BMX bikes with cans in the spokes, jumping homemade ramps, and running home when mothers’ voices called the neighborhood kids in for dinner.

Money was tight, but joy wasn’t. His father was a carpenter and master craftsman; his mother, an educator who became the financial aid director at Columbus State University. Together they built a home overflowing with humor, honesty, and unconditional love. Bowles credits that upbringing for grounding him.

“My parents were two hippies who fell in love young and are still in love to this day,” Bowles says. “They taught me that communication and laughter can get you through anything. That’s the biggest gift I’ve ever been given.”

His father’s humor was the family glue — “a man’s man with a kid’s heart” — and his mother’s love of reading sparked his lifelong fascination with storytelling. Their emotional openness, rare in most households, helped shape his ability to write songs and stories that connect deeply with others.

That grounding still carries through today. Coy and his wife, Kylie, are raising two young daughters, and he’s quick to admit that fatherhood reshaped his entire understanding of love. “I didn’t really know what love or life was until I had kids,” he says. “Now my goal every day is just to be present — to be in the now with them, like my parents were with me.”

MUSIC: From Garage Bands to Grammy Gold

Bowles’ musical path started with a little motherly persuasion — and a lot of reluctance. When his mom insisted he pick a summer activity, he refused until she made the choice for him: guitar lessons.

“I thought guitar was so uncool,” he laughs. “They made me play Coming ’Round the Mountain. I hated it. But then we learned House of the Rising Sun, and suddenly it clicked — that haunting melody just hit different.”

That spark became a lifelong fire. When Bowles heard Pearl Jam’s “Alive” on the radio for the first time, everything changed. “That song was my moment,” he says. “I didn’t know what it was, but I knew I loved it more than I could explain.”

He dove into the grunge and punk scene, forming his first band, Betty Doom, at 13 and later PMF — affectionately dubbed “the cussing band” by his dad. The music community at The Depot in nearby Barnesville became his second home — a self-run, adult-free punk venue where kids managed tickets, setlists, and self-respect.

“That place taught me what community really means,” Bowles says. “It wasn’t about fame; it was about showing up and creating something together.”

From Biology to Blues Clubs

After high school, Bowles enrolled at West Georgia University to study biology, but fate had other plans. It was there he first met Zac Brown, playing similar venues and open mic nights in the Carrollton bar scene. Though he was close to graduating, Bowles couldn’t ignore the pull of music.

“I had to make the dreaded phone call to my parents and tell them I was dropping biology,” he recalls. “But they believed in me. They said, ‘If you’re going to do music, do it right.’”

He transferred to Georgia State University, majoring in jazz studies and immersing himself in Atlanta’s eclectic music world. He played anywhere that would have him — Eddie’s Attic, Northside Tavern, Smith’s Olde Bar, The Loft, The Vinyl. “I was everywhere,” he says. “Every night was a new scene, a new band, a new story.”

He formed Coy Bowles and the Fellowship, a fusion of jazz, rock, and soul, and one night found himself opening for the Zac Brown Band at SkyBar in Auburn, Alabama. Just before the show, his pedal board died — so he asked John Hopkins for a 9-volt battery. “He walked me out to their trailer, and I saw this setup that looked like they were ready for war — every cable, every speaker, everything labeled and ready. I knew right then these guys weren’t playing around. This wasn’t a hobby.”

That single 9-volt battery changed everything. Weeks later, Zac called and asked Bowles to open for the band full time — and to keep his keyboard on stage to play with them. From there, the ride was meteoric: headlining arenas, selling out Fenway Park, and watching Chicken Fried and Colder Weather climb the charts. He still remembers the night the crowd hit 12,000 people. “I walked on stage and said to our fiddle player, ‘They’re all here for us?’ He just nodded and said, ‘Yeah, man. The booking just changed.’”

Finding Harmony

Through albums, tours, and collaborations, Bowles became one of the band’s defining creative voices — co-writing hits like Knee Deep, Sweet Annie, and Colder Weather, a song he calls “a gift from God.”

“Every time we play it, you can feel the barometer drop in the room,” he says. 

Over the years, he’s shared stages with some of the most legendary names including Steven Tyler, John Mayer, Gregg Allman, and Dave Grohl, the latter becoming an unexpected friend and kindred spirit. Grohl, like Bowles, is a storyteller at heart. “We hit it off instantly,” Bowles recalls. 

But of all the collaborations and musical encounters, one stands above the rest. When Bowles was asked to name the most memorable artist he’s ever performed with outside of the Zac Brown Band, he didn’t hesitate — Dolly Parton.

Rehearsing with Dolly and helping induct her into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was, as he puts it, “a moment that swept the air out of the room.” When she walked in, conversation stopped, musicians straightened their backs, and even seasoned performers found themselves in quiet awe. “That’s her,” he thought. “That’s really her.” For Bowles, it wasn’t just about celebrity. It was reverence for a woman whose voice, grace, and authenticity have defined multiple generations.

And while Dolly was certainly his high-water mark, another memory quietly marked how far he’d traveled from small-town Georgia. Sitting in a makeup chair before an awards show, Bowles looked up to see James Taylor seated cross-legged in the corner with his Olson guitar playing There’s No Business Like Show Business in a chord-melody arrangement. The surreal simplicity of that moment hit him all at once. “I just remember thinking, I’m not in Thomaston, Georgia anymore.”

Now, with Zac Brown Band preparing for a groundbreaking residency at The Sphere in Las Vegas, Bowles’ creative world is expanding again — blending technology, visuals, and storytelling into what he calls “a full-body experience in sound and color.”

PURPOSE: Stories, Service, and Giving Back

During those early years on the road, the noise of touring made it hard for Bowles to find quiet moments for reflection. So he began writing — not songs, but stories.

Bowles’ debut children’s story was inspired by Matt Mangano’s now-wife. He remembers going out to lunch with Matt and his girlfriend at the time. During the meal, while everyone was cutting up, she held her laugh in. Later, Bowles learned that as a child she’d been teased for the way she laughed, and over time she’d stopped laughing out loud altogether.

That moment stayed with him. What began as a casual observation turned into a spark of empathy and imagination. He started wondering — what if that became the heart of a story?

Not long after, while on a writing retreat, Bowles wrote a short rhyming story about a girl named Amy Giggles, who’s teased for her laugh until she learns to embrace it. When he returned home, he shared the story with Zac Brown, who immediately recognized its potential.

Zac told him, “That’d make a killer children’s book.”

That encouragement — combined with the lasting influence of Bowles’ late mentor, Donnie McCormick, a legendary Northside Tavern bluesman who had taken him under his wing years earlier — gave him the push he needed to take the leap.

Bowles often says that McCormick still guides him in spirit, like an angel on his shoulder. In one reflective moment, he imagined Donnie there beside him, that mischievous grin intact, whispering, “You never thought it was going to be a children’s book, did you?” It was that vision, equal parts humor and heart, that sealed his decision to move forward and share his stories with the world.

Since then, Bowles has written seven children’s books, including Will Powers, When You’re Feeling Sick, and his newest release, Every Amazing Story, co-authored with Malcolm Mitchell, the former UGA wide receiver and Super Bowl champion — the same one who helped the Patriots break Atlanta’s heart in 2017. Their collaboration, Bowles says, is about “teaching kids how to write their own story — literally and figuratively.”

Bowles’ partnership with Georgia’s Pre-K Program now reaches more than 90,000 children statewide, helping foster a love for reading before kindergarten. Through Lakeshore Learning, he’s helped create educational kits that make reading hands-on and fun. And now, through the Coy Bowles Foundation, he’s turning that mission into a movement — giving back to schools, families, and teachers across the South.

He’s also recorded a series of children’s albums — fun, clever, and, as he says with a grin, “a break from Baby Shark.”

FULL CIRCLE: Living with Gratitude

From small-town Georgia to the world stage, Bowles’ story is one of balance — of family, music, and purpose feeding each other in perfect harmony.

Today, at 46, he says he’s more creatively energized than ever. He feels like he’s only beginning to understand music and storytelling in new ways — expanding his artistry beyond the stage to include books, keynote speaking, and community work. Bowles remains deeply thankful to the fans who’ve supported him and the band through every chapter, crediting that connection for allowing him to keep exploring what’s next.

In the end, his story — like his music — comes full circle: rooted in family, driven by purpose, and carried by song.

He’s not slowing down, he’s just getting started.