Nurse on frontline comforts patients, makes folk album after own COVID diagnosis

Lexington by way of Pikeville, indie folk musician and traveling nurse Donnie Bowling has been on the frontlines during the coronavirus pandemic.

He has faced adversity over the last year due to extended isolation from his family, friends, live music and other things he holds dear. He’s also had to act as family to patients who cannot safely have their actual family by their sides.

It was that inspiration that fueled Bowling not to sulk in quarantine for two weeks when he himself was diagnosed with COIVD-19 last fall.

Instead, he hunkered down and wrote four songs that were later recorded for his EP, “The Beauty Within Sessions” at Sneak Attack Recording Co. in October.

“I wanted to take this negative situation and put a positive spin on it,” said Bowling. “The first time I was in quarantine (for an exposure at work) I ended up watching too much television, staring at the walls and going stir crazy so I wanted to find something to spur my creativity instead since that’s what usually helps to keep my mental health in check.”

The four song compilation, which hit streaming platforms in February, features one tune on looking for love during a pandemic. “My Love” is an upbeat ukulele ballad that Bowling wrote for a woman he hit it off with online with and but grew attached to her too soon during his time in isolation. There’s also the self-titled opening track encouraging himself and others to not shy away from sharing their magic with the world that ended up inspiring the remainder of the project’s creative direction.

Also included is “Rite of Passage,” a song about growing up and co-writen with his mother that came out of pure happenstance. After gathering all of his old song books to use as inspiration, Bowling uncovered one that was bookmarked on a page with a snippet of poetry written by his mother over a decade prior. Using those lines (“Rite of passage is coming through / Ain’t it crazy stuck with you”) Bowling constructed the framework for a new song, adding a second verse in the same melody as his mother’s old lyrics to finally complete the forgotten tune.

“Basically my mother and I started and finished writing this song together 12 years apart,” said Bowling. “She has no musical background, so for her to have written that and for the notebook page it was on being bookmarked when I found it were coincidences I simply couldn’t ignore when it came to writing these songs.”

Already having been in touch with Trippin Roots drummer Andy White about collaborating on music, it was a perfect marriage pairing up with the band to bring these songs to life in the studio. Bowling described the day and a half long recording session as magical, with most songs coming together on their first or second take with the band behind him. White, who has recorded at Sneak Attack several times prior with Trippin Roots and other projects, agreed.

“There’s just something special about that room at Sneak Attack,” said White. “Of all the sessions under my belt there this was the first one where I knocked out a track in one take with ‘My Love.’ I had to do a second for good measure. Things just flowed so well with Donnie and these songs, particularly given our lack of working on them together prior.”

Currently on contract with the kidney and liver transplant floor of UK’s Albert B. Chandler Hospital since just before the pandemic hit, Bowling came down with COVID-19 last September after returning home from a brief trip to Prestonsburg. First experiencing mild symptoms he assumed were sinus related, Bowling brushed off the signs until the symptoms began to mount.

“I was working an overnight shift at the hospital and noticed while eating on my break at 4 a.m. that I couldn’t taste or smell what I was eating,” said Bowling. “I immediately ran to the vending machine thinking that Skittles would save me — that surely I could taste the rainbow — but to my dismay I couldn’t taste it.”

Being one of only a few people his patients see on a regular basis is hard for both them and Bowling to not grow an emotional attachment to one another he says. Those bonds forged have helped to remind Bowling of the people he holds dear in his own life, and how he’s planning to make them even more of a priority in it once normalcy returns.

“This last year has taught me just how much I’d been taking for granted in life,” said Bowling. “I’m learning to be even more present in the moment and to be more appreciative of my family, my friends and the activities I participate in, because we now see how easily it can all get taken away.”