About Clare

Years before landing the iconic role of Scarlett O'Connor on the CMT/HULU TV series NASHVILLE, and launching her career as a singer/songwriter, young Clare Bowen was growing up in rural Australia, miles from the nearest city, writing down everything she felt, heard, saw and dreamed. "Music was my connection to the rest of the world," she says. As a child who spent more time around animals than people, she often "didn’t do social very well... but music is the universal language. I felt no barrier there. I was brought up on my parents’ vinyl collection - everything from Paul Simon, Gilbert and Sullivan, Vivaldi, to Elvis, to Dolly, to Springsteen, Edith Piaf, and Etta James. Those references quickly expanded to include country legends like Loretta Lynn and Johnny Cash.” Bowen heard her first broadcast of the Grand Ole Opry on the wireless in her granddad's kitchen. Soon after, her classical vocal coach paused one of their lessons to comment on the "country lilt" that had naturally crept into Bowen's voice. It would be another decade or so before she'd duet with heavyweights like Zac Brown and Vince Gill, record songs with GRAMMY-winning producers like T Bone Burnett and Buddy Miller, but those early experiences helped plant the seed, pushing Bowen toward Nashville and its musical community. Along the way, she established herself as an in-demand actress on both sides of the Atlantic, earning critical praise in the highly controversial Australian film The Combination, directed by David Field, and as the leading role of Wendlain in the Sydney Theatre Company’s musical production of “Spring Awakening.” It was during this time that Clare took the advice of the STC’s artistic director and Oscar winner, Cate Blanchett, and bought a one-way ticket to Los Angeles in 2012.

During her first year in America, she caught the bus to her NASHVILLE audition, and landed the gig, playing a young poet turned songwriter, whose Folk and Americana songs are influenced by a challenging childhood. For Bowen, who was diagnosed with cancer at four years old and struggled with the disease for years, the role hit close to home. NASHVILLE lasted six successful seasons, airing over 115 episodes, and came to a close in the summer of 2018. During its time on air, the show inspired 22 soundtracks, including a Christmas album, which have collectively sold more than one million album units and over five million single-song downloads to date. Clare and the cast of NASHVILLE toured the globe between seasons selling out rooms like the legendary Royal Albert Hall and London’s O2 Arena. During the summer of 2018, Bowen, along with her singer/songwriter husband, Brandon Robert Young, nabbed a coveted spot on Sugarland’s ‘Still the Same Tour’, the band’s first tour in over a decade, making stops across the US in Los Angeles, Portland, and Denver among others. She then set out on an headline tour in support of the international release of her eponymous album with sold-out shows across the UK, Germany, and Australia. The album will make its debut in the US and rest of the world later this year.

Once an introverted child, Bowen has blossomed into a ferocious performer and storyteller. She lovingly takes her audiences on a journey full of laughter, tears, dancing, singing, jumping up and down, and for weeks afterward, wondering where all the glitter came from. Clare resides in a rip in the fabric of reality, close to Nashville, Tennessee, with Brandon, a small army of rescued dragons, and the occasional unicorn.