Holly Bowling Brings ‘Wilderness Sessions’ To Idaho’s Bruneau Canyon

Pianist Holly Bowling continued her Wilderness Sessions virtual tour on Thursday by livestreaming a set filmed at Bruneau Canyon in Idaho. Bowling strung together songs by Phish and the Grateful Dead during her one-hour performance at the scenic location.

Holly shared the following note about her experiene at Bruneau Canyon:

When choosing the lications for the Wilderness Sessions, one aspect we were searching for was really remote places where I’d have the solitude to play to the place and the setting without distraction. That was one of the appeals of Bruneau Canyon, and it delivered perfectly. We had the whole place to ourselves and din’t see another person once. We arrived in the dark, so we had no idea of the massiveness of the canyon besides the wind giving away a hint of its scale. We spent the night out there camped on the edge and woke up to an incredible view of the canyon and allowed ourselves some time to take it all in. Then we set up and I started playing. The ability to have a continuous experience like that, where you’re immersed in a place for a while before playing music (rather than being dropped into it suddenly after a day of travel) really made this session special. It changes the way you play. You settle into the place a little more and have a chance to listen before you speak.

Bowling’s instrumental performance began with “Pebbles And Marbles” from Phish’s Round Room LP. The rest of Holly’s set was one massive “Help On The Way” > “Slipknot!” > “Franklin’s Tower” suite featuring “Wingsuit” within. Watch Holly Bowling’s Wilderness Sessions special from Bruneau Canyon below:

Setlist

Set: Pebbles & Marbles, Help On The Way > Slipknot! > Wingsuit > Slipknot! > Franklin’s Tower