Trey Pendley Shares How Ronnie Bowman “Disarmed” Him as He Crafted His Debut Album (Exclusive)

Trey Pendley was struggling when he began working on what would become his debut album.

“My brain broke a year ago,” Pendley told American Songwriter. “I wasn’t really doing many writes. I was just down. I was down and out.”

Enter Ronnie Bowman. When Pendley got the chance to sit down with the legendary songwriter, it changed everything.

“I was like, ‘I just want to tell you. I’m having some issues. I’m not trying to do anything. I don’t know, I feel weird. I don’t know what’s going on,’” Pendley recalled telling Bowman, who died in March after a motorcycle accident. “He’s like, ‘I feel weird. I don’t know what’s going on either.’”

That candor, Pendley said, “completely disarmed me, made me feel good, and made me feel comfortable.”

“I think that was the first time I’d been around someone in town that actually opened up, all barriers down, all walls down,” he said. “I learned a lot, just watching him in those moments, and then we started writing more.”

Those conversations covered everything from kids to marriage to money. Bowman was quick to offer Pendley words of wisdom on it all.

“Ronnie carried that honest comfort of even bad things could be looked at in an OK way,” he said. “You can move forward, even though things are hard or heavy.”

Trey Pendley Discusses Working With Ronnie Bowman

The pair wound up developing a friendship, as they, along with Kendell Marvel, teamed up to write two songs on Pendley’s debut LP, Signs of Life. Those tracks wound up being some of Pendley’s favorites on the album, which is out now.

“Small Potatoes,” for instance, came from a front porch conversation about life’s hardships.

“It’s trying to complicate and make art out of some of the simplest things in the world, like the cliche that time’s fleeting,” Pendley said. “All this stuff is not near as bad as it seems when you’re out of it. Not only that, you’ll miss it when you’re gone, when you’re away from it.”

“Spend My Time Lovin’,” meanwhile, was born out of the writers’ love for their wives, and infused with Bowman’s signature harmonies and bluegrass sounds.

“I’ve always struggled with leaving my wife, especially now with kids, too. I was like, ‘Man, I just wish I could spend all day just at home,’” Pendley recalled. “… Ronnie resonated with that. Him and Garnet were very close, like, best friends. Every time I saw him, he was always with her. Instead of leaving her, he just brought her everywhere with him.”

Trey Pendley on His Influences and Debut Album

Pendley has adopted a similar mindset with his own wife, Lexi. In fact, during his album release show at The Basement in Nashville, his better half joined him on stage, singing background vocals and sharing flirty glances throughout the set.

The pair’s onstage love was reminiscent of that of Chris Stapleton and his wife, Morgane, who frequently appear on stage together.

The comparison is one that Pendley would likely take kindly to, as he counts Stapleton as one of his biggest influences. Merle Haggard, John Prine, and Tyler Childers also make the list, as do unexpected artists like Ozzy Osborne and Mötley Crüe.

“I kind of land somewhere in the middle of that,” Pendley said. “At the end of the day, the reason [my music is] country is because I am.”

Those influences are felt throughout Signs of Life, a LP on which Pendley sought to hone his songwriting skills and do “something different” sonically.

There’s no shortage of variety, from the “bouncy old storytelling country” on “Small Potatoes” to the album’s outlier “Devil Does,” which is absent of the humor many of Pendley’s songs have been known to have.

While the music may be about going through hard times, Pendley is currently in a “sweet spot” of his life and career. That dichotomy is exactly what Signs of Life is all about.

“It’s not that I’m someone that everyone needs to listen to my advice by any means,” he said, “but it’s just the truth about what’s going on, and that it’s OK and hard and good, all at the same time.”

Photos by Madison Rensing