Coy Bowles, member of the two-time GRAMMY Award winning and multi-platinum Zac Brown Band, will release his first solo album ‘Love Takes Flight’ via Southern Ground Records, Inc. on October 5th. Growing up as an only child in Thomaston, GA, Bowles’ creativity was fueled by his unique ability to engage in a multitude of artistic endeavors. Teaching himself guitar at the age of ten, Coy actively pursued music, prophetically meeting future band mate, Zac Brown, at West Georgia University. It was fellow Zac Brown Band member, Clay Cook, who encouraged Coy to book the studio and record the album. “Life is a ever turning road and love and loss are a part of it. This album is my journal of how the last few years have affected me and how I learned to release and heal while living a life of major success with Zac Brown Band” states Bowles. A combination of loss and heartache are evident themes throughout the album. Specifically, Coy was affected by the losses of a mentor, a student, and a childhood friend. Most of the songs of heartache Bowles wrote on the road with Zac Brown Band. Bowles says “Relationships are hard and so is the loss after the realization that it's never going to work.” Other songs like ‘Love Train’ are about being in love and the world spinning beneath your feet. ‘Follow the Sun’ is about friends of Bowles who joined the military. Musicians on the record include long time Fellowship members Jordan Shalhoup and David Englehard, Atlanta's first call drummer Mark Cobb of Y-O-U and Yacht Rock and Nashville studio and session bassist and producer, Matt Mangano. Jason Isbell (Jason Isbell and The 400 unit, Drive By Truckers) joins Coy on electric guitar. Southern Ground artists, Sonia Leigh lent her soulful vocals to the track, ‘My Hearts on Fire’ and Levi Lowrey joins Coy on the track ‘This Ol Town.’ Songwriter and close friend of the Zac Brown Band, Wyatt Durrette, co-wrote ‘The Healing’ and ‘Hold On.’ Bowles’ band mate, John Driskell Hopkins, co-wrote and is featured on background vocals for ‘The Healing.’ Hopkins also helped engineer some of the album. Clay Cook, also Zac Brown Band-mate, engineered and co-produced the album with Bowles and is featured throughout the record on background vocals, Hammond organ, Jordan Shalhoup-tenor sax, piano and bass. Distributed by Tunecore for itunes and produced by Coy Bowles and Clay Cook, ‘Love Takes Flight’ will be available online October 5th on iTunes. Physical copies will be available for purchase via cdbaby (www.cdbaby.com), Coy’s website (www.coybowles.com) and the Southern Ground Records website (www.southerngroundrecords.com). “This is definitely a representation of a time and place in my life…I do think it’s a mature step in a musical direction that listeners will be able to connect to. It’s a collection of heartfelt songs; Music is about expressions, release, and sharing....it’s what makes me realize why I’m alive.” Additional information can be found at www.coybowles.com and www.zacbrownband.com. For more information on Coy Bowles, please contact Eileen Tilson (404-261-5537) or [email protected]. .