Gregory Bowdry, better known as Stringz EMB, wears many hats inside his music profession, community role, and personal life. As an artist, Stringz has been on the St. Louis scene and beyond since 2014. He’s an award-winning singer, songwriter, and record producer and has toured coast to coast with artists such as ATG of Discrepancies, Bubba Sparxx, and Murphy Lee of the St. Lunatics. His eccentric blend of soulful crooning, spirited pop, and dense lyrics cut deep into the soul of all who listen and leaves a trace of intrinsic energy and warm understanding. His debut EP, Anchor, is the result of freeing a beast from its cage into the wild, where it’s set free.
This time Stringz opens up about the personal struggles he’s faced for a long time: mental illness. Will Buchanan, a freelance musician from South East England, compliments “Lights On” with his meticulous guitar picking. While another icon of St. Louis, Katarra Parson, harmonizes with Stringz to add a sweet soulful twist to the track. Together, the trio navigate the trickiness of depression and overcome it with music.
The darkest corners of our mind inevitably overshadow our normal mental state. We can’t control when it happens or how it will make us feel. The only thing we are in control of is what we do with it. May is notably Mental Health Awareness Month, and Stringz EMB is wasting no time to share his arduous personal experience with depression in hopes that others recognize and accept their own struggles and move forward towards healing. Alongside Will Buchanan and Katarra Parson, Stringz assures us, “it’s ok to not be okay.”
While he gets through the day with a smile painted on his face, the depth of his eyes reveals his true adversity. Straightforward tasks like washing his face and opening the fridge induce stress and exhaustion, and the people he’s surrounded by don’t fulfill the loneliness he feels deep inside. Work, too, feels like a futile conference room until he meets the gaze of another coworker that exhibits a look of empathy. The struggles you face might make you feel isolated, but there are many people surrounding you that are ready to give support.
