Singer/songwriter Bonnie Bishop courted failure but met with success
It wasn't until Bonnie Bishop gave up on her dream that it came true. The Texas native had spent 12 years scuffling as an independent singer-songwriter without making much headway, even after having two of her songs recorded by Bonnie Raitt and another performed on the prime-time TV soap Nashville. It got to the point where she couldn't even afford Christmas presents for her family. So she retreated to her parents' home in the Lone Star State to regroup.
It wasn't until Bonnie Bishop gave up on her dream that it came true.
The Texas native had spent 12 years scuffling as an independent singer-songwriter without making much headway, even after having two of her songs recorded by Bonnie Raitt and another performed on the prime-time TV soap Nashville. It got to the point where she couldn't even afford Christmas presents for her family. So she retreated to her parents' home in the Lone Star State to regroup.
"I couldn't keep doing it the way I was doing it," the 37-year-old says over the phone from Nashville. "I was trying to kill that dream because it was over."
But it wasn't. A friend, David Macias, head of the entertainment company Thirty Tigers, had sent a couple of acoustic demos of hers to Dave Cobb, one of Nashville's hottest producers, who has had success with critically acclaimed artists such as Chris Stapleton, Jason Isbell, and Sturgill Simpson. He was hooked, and wanted to make an album with Bishop.
The result, the tellingly titled Ain't Who I Was, is one of the best albums of the year so far. Bishop cuts a commanding figure as she sounds like a cross between Bonnie Raitt and Dusty Springfield on a set of mostly originals that tells her story of resilience and renewal.
"My first five records were geared toward country because that's where the opportunity to play live was," Bishop says. "Dave gave me permission to not be a country singer. ... He said, 'You're not a country singer. I'm not making a country record on you. You're a soul singer.' Nobody had ever said that to me.
"I'd always wanted to do that. I grew up listening to Otis and Etta. You could hear those soul influences in my records, but it's never as clear as when Dave made this record. That's part of his genius."
Because of all her previous disappointments, Bishop refused to get her hopes too high. But since the release of the album last month through Thirty Tigers, reviews have been rapturous.
"I feel like I'm in a dream," says Bishop, who has a full support team behind her for the first time. "What I remember the most is the way I felt when I tried to leave it behind, and how sad I was that I wasn't going to get up onstage and see that dream come to fruition. ...
"What I'm most excited about is this gives me the opportunity to go do what I've wanted to do all along, which is to be out playing with the band for people, and having them love it and feel inspired. That's the high for me."
Bonnie Bishop, 8 p.m. Monday at World Cafe Live, 3025 Walnut St. $15. 215-222-1400, philly.worldcafelive.com.
215-854-4641N>@nickcristiano