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Nashville.com favorite Wade Bowen is opening a new chapter—and looking back at an old one—with the release of his 11th studio album, The Version Of Me You Get, out now via Thirty Tigers.
The Texas Red Dirt country singer-songwriter teamed up with longtime friend and collaborator Sean McConnell to produce the 10-track collection, which reveals a more stripped-down and vulnerable side of Bowen. There’s plenty of country throughout the album, but The Version Of Me You Get also leans into roots, soul and a grittier sound than fans may expect.
The story behind the album is almost as interesting as the songs themselves.
Bowen and McConnell originally recorded the project in 2020, during the unexpected downtime brought on by the pandemic. With nowhere to be and no real plan for what would come next, the longtime friends spent time in the studio creating music.
It was also a difficult period for Bowen personally. He had recently lost his nephew, who was also a member of his crew, while vocal issues forced him to take an unwanted break from performing. The result was a collection of songs that came from a particularly raw place.
But Bowen ultimately decided not to release the album.
Years later, while navigating professional changes and taking a closer look at his own life, he returned to the recordings. This time, the songs hit differently.
McConnell remixed the tracks, and the two realized the album had finally found its moment.
“When I started listening to the songs, I couldn’t believe how they related more than before because of the personal journey that I’ve been on,” Bowen says. “My relationships are stronger than ever because of the man that I’ve become. It’s a way better version of myself and I can now see more clearly where I was coming from when I wrote about a lot of that struggle.”
Bowen also sees the album as a chance for listeners to hear the songwriter behind the artist.
“I think fans are going to hear the songwriting side of me when they listen to this record,” he says. “My last few projects have been artist driven. I was trying to prove to myself that I was the biggest artist that I could be. This one is more raw. Luckily, I had a good buddy (McConnell) to get this out of me.”
That rawness runs throughout The Version Of Me You Get.
The album opens with “Rain,” a song about the moments in life that can hit without warning. “Turpentine” brings a whiskey-soaked, barroom feel, while “Burned In The Fire” adds some attitude to a familiar story of heartbreak.
Bowen tackles struggle on “Better Left Alone” and the guitar-heavy “One More One Last Time,” while “Weight On The Levee,” featuring bluegrass legend Dan Tyminski, (watch above) finds him pushing into a darker and edgier sound.
There’s also plenty of redemption on the album. “The Garden” looks toward moving forward after hardship, while “Hard World” offers a twangy reminder that sometimes simply getting through the day is its own victory. “People Like Us” turns toward family and the strength found in the people who stick around.
The album closes with the title track, “The Version Of Me You Get,” perhaps the most revealing song of the collection. Bowen looks back at the mistakes, struggles and choices that helped shape the person he is today.
After more than two decades of making music, Bowen isn’t trying to prove anything on this record. Instead, he’s letting fans hear the songwriter, the friend, the father and the man behind the music.
And maybe that’s the version of Wade Bowen we’ve been waiting to hear.
The Version Of Me You Get Tracklist
- “Rain”
- “Burned In The Fire”
- “People Like Us”
- “Weight On The Levee”
- “Turpentine”
- “Better Left Alone”
- “One More One Last Time”
- “The Garden”
- “Hard World”
- “The Version Of Me You Get”
