“I was trying to be a country singer all these years but really my heart was in soul,” Bonnie Bishop tells us. It’s release week for her third studio album, Ain’t Who I Was, a release that in many ways could almost be considered the artist’s debut.
After spending a grueling decade plus on the road, acting as her own merch person, sound technician, and roadie – Bishop would even connect her own trailer hitch – the strain had begun to more definitively take its toll. In a decision that was far from easy, she chose to leave the music industry behind, and enrolled in creative writing classes with the aim of pursuing food or travel writing.
Meanwhile, producer Dave Cobb, of recent acclaim for his work with Sturgill Simpson, Chris Stapleton, and Jason Isbell, heard a couple of Bishop’s demos and invited her to lunch. He told her that she wasn’t a country artist, but rather a soul artist, and that he’d like to work with her as such. “It took Dave to pull it out,” she says.
The result is a record that glows. Bishop’s time away from music led to her discovery of her identity separate from her artist persona, and her return to it, at Cobb’s side, grounded her newfound sense of identity as an artist – a soul artist. It’s summed up most neatly in the title track – “I ain’t who I was back then.” The song, written by Brent Cobb and Adam Hood, is the result of friends helping another friend tell her story.
Through songs like “Broken,” Bishop’s performance will devastate an unsuspecting soul. It’s simultaneously soaked in saccharine and a shuddering shaking with the remembrance of not-so-distant struggles. But even as Ain’t Who I Was is an homage to pain and growth, it doesn’t wallow – “Broken,” for instance, is both a plea for better times and a commitment to lifting oneself up to get there. “Not Cause I Wanted To,” which is rich and intimate, laments, “I only did what I had to do / not cause I wanted to.” The sweeping “Looking For You” is part Sunday morning centering and late-night reflection.
On her uptempo moments, too, Bishop shines. Lead-off track “Mercy” is sonic affogato, pouring strong emotion over sweet 1970’s sunshine. “Done Died” churns and rolls with a raunchy electric undercurrent, channeling Bonnie Raitt, Janis Joplin, and Aretha Franklin that’s roof-rocking and hymnal in the same breath. Raitt herself is a Bishop fan; the Californian recently extolled Bishop on her sold out stops at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium before playing “Undone,” which Raitt recorded on her most recent album (and the second song of Bishop’s to make a Raitt record, the first being “Not Cause I Wanted To” in 2012.)
At the intersection of raw artistry finding its home and production that complements each song, Ain’t Who I Was rests, an ear-and-soul-pleasing offering that demands further exploration. Grab the album on iTunes, and catch Bishop at a show near you.
Catch her live:
Sun., May 29 / 3rd & Lindsley / Nashville, TN
Fri., June 17 / Goshen Brewing Company / Goshen, IN
Sun., June 19 / Club Cafe / Pittsburgh, PA
Mon., June 20 / World Cafe Live Philadelphia / Philadelphia, PA
Tues., June 21 / Rockwood Music Hall II / New York, NY
Wed., June 22 / Jammin Java / Vienna, VA
Fri., June 24 / The Evening Muse / Charlotte, NC
Sat., June 25 / Eddie Attic / Decatur, GA
Tues., June 28 / Top Hat Lounge / Missoula, MT
Wed., June 29 / Live From The Divide / Bozeman, MT
Sun.., July 24 / Magic Bag / Ferndale, MI
Thurs., July 28 / Sellersville Theater 1894 / Sellersville, PA
Sat., July 30 / Hal & Mals / Jackson, MS
Sun., July 31 / Rams Head On Stage / Annapolis, MD
Sat., Aug. 6 / Highline Ballroom / New York, NY
Fri., Aug. 12 / Brighton Music Hall / Allston, MA
Tues., Aug. 16 / Hard Rock Cafe Pittsburgh / Pittsburgh, PA
Sun., Sept. 11 / LouFest / St. Louis, MO
Sat., Oct. 22 / KFWR Annual Ranch Bash / Ft. Worth, TX