Crystal Bowersox just going with the flow

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Crystal Bowersox

Updated: September 23, 2011 3:32PM

Crystal Bowersox prefers to do things organically.

That explains why the Chicago singer/musician hasn’t done anything differently musically after coming in second to Mount Prospect native Lee DeWyze last year on “American Idol” except attempting to move to Nashville with husband/musician Brian Walker and their son.

And, having not yet relocated explains why she’s played a handful of shows around Chicago this summer. Her next show is 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Lund Auditorium at Dominican University in River Forest. She kicks off the 2011-2012 season of the Performing Arts Center.

“We’re still in Chicago, taking our time,” Bowersox, 26, said.

Hint of blue

The Ohio-born Bowersox moved to Chicago when she was 17 to pursue a musical career. She’s considered roots rock or country, depending who you ask, but she also has a tinge of the blues picked up from performing at El stops and blues clubs around the city. She said she’s still into the underground acoustic scene in Chicago.

“I just make the music that comes out of me,” she said.

That includes her album “Farmer’s Daughter,” released last year after her “American Idol” stint.

“Some of the stuff is bluesier than the rest,” she said. “People will just have to listen up for it.”

After Bowersox’s mom noticed how well she could sing, Bowersox took up the piano when she was 6.

Her mom worked at a church, and the pastor’s wife became Bowersox’s piano teacher. But, Bowersox faked her way through piano lessons when it came to learning to read music. Bowersox said she played by ear.

Then she took up the guitar.

“The guitar is much easier to carry around than a piano,” she said.

Her bass player’s father, guitarist Bobby May, then became her mentor.

“He’s a legend in northwest Ohio,” she said. “He taught me a lot.”

Rock influence

Some of her better-known influences also included rock guitarist Steve Vai, blues-rock guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughn and heavy metal shredder Zakk Wylde.

“The first CD I bought was Jewel’s ‘Pieces of You,’” Bowersox said. “From there I went to blues standards, then I went to the rock side.”

Today, she’s listening to Adelle, Amy Winehouse, Ray LaMontagne and the Civil Wars.

While she may not be making a conscious effort to shape her music, she is intentionally using her fame to call attention to environmental and social issues. She’s an advocate for sustainability and local and organic farming. She wants to see more attention put on human sex trafficking, domestic abuse and marriage equality.

“I’ve been given a megaphone and I want to help,” she said. “There are lots of things to think about and worry about as a mother.”