Gossip Everybody Wants To Know: HOW WAS THE RYMAN???

I'm not gonna lie - it was amazing! I have to preface this whole thing by saying I am in NO WAY bragging when I talk about the awesome-ness of this event. Rather, I feel like all these good things are coming my way and they deserve to be talked about and celebrated. I am just trying to show my THANKFULNESS by sharing and rejoicing over these landmark moments in my career with all of you, my faithful fans, who in no small way, have helped make this season of my life so rewarding and fulfilling. So let me just tell you.

The Bonnie Raitt show at the Ryman last Saturday night LITERALLY could not have been more perfect! You all already know that I have a cut on Bonnie's new album "Slipstream" (thanks to my non-stop mentioning of it!) and one of the things I have been looking forward to the most in recent weeks has been hearing her sing my song live, which is always a highlight and thrill for a writer, especially so in this case. Well I literally couldn't have dreamt up the scenario any better than it happened in real life. Bonnie's staff left a voicemail on my phone last week inviting me to be her guest that night and hooked me up with GREAT seats about six rows back from the stage. This was a miracle in itself, because I was out of town when the tickets went on sale and sold out in an hour! For two weeks, I'd been sweating the whole thing as everyone was asking me if I was going and I didn't have a dang ticket! I feared the worst case scenario, which was that I'd be spotted trying to scalp tickets in the rain before the show, but thankfully I didn't have to.

When we arrived, I was thrilled to see I was sitting next to Mike Reid, one of my other songwriting heroes and author of one of Bonnie's greatest recordings "I Can't Make You Love Me," and legendary Nashville manager Al Benetta, whose clients have included John Prine and Todd Snider to name a few. Needless to say, I felt it was quite smitten to be sandwiched between these Nashville legacies. I could barely sit still I was so excited. Throughout the set, she would introduce the songs from her new album and every time she said the words "This next song was written by." I felt my heart pounding in anticipation of hearing my name, wondering if she would mention me, fearing she wouldn't or WORSE, that my song wasn't even in the set. But it was.

About halfway through the show, the guitar tech brought out her acoustic and she said the words I'd been waiting to hear.only better. Not only did she say my name, but she was kind enough to build me up to the audience, praising me as a great singer-songwriter, and then she dedicated the song to me!! I heard people start cheering and then Ben let out a loud, hillbilly-sounding "YeeeAAAAHH!!" After she began the tune, the whole theater got smaller and smaller around me until it completely melted away and there was no one but the Bonnies. I felt like I was walking down a long hall towards her voice, now soulfully beginning to wrap itself around the very words I had written and drifting ever closer to where I was sitting, perched on the edge of my seat. The lights had dimmed to a beautiful bluish hue, and there was this white light illuminating her red hair, like she had a halo coming off the back of her head. And as far as I was concerned, there might as well have been!

At some point, it all hit me and I began to laugh this deep guttural chuckle, something like a sob that made my shoulders begin to shake uncontrollably. I think I was laughing, but there were tears streaming down my face. I wish someone could have snapped my picture at that moment, to capture the look of emotion as I was experiencing what felt like the finale of a ten year uphill journey, the reaching of the summit and the moment I could finally look back and see what I had achieved. The JOY I felt at having pushed through some of those moments, my God! I felt such relief sitting there in the audience, such redemption and most of all GRATITUDE that I had survived to see the reward of all my determination and faith. It was a magical moment, truly, and Bonnie not only set it up for me with the graciousness of the finest of hostesses.she also gave a performance of my song that I will never forget as long as I live.

After the concert, Ben and I got to spend a few moments with the woman herself. She was so complimentary and encouraging of my talent - I can't imagine another artist's approval that could ever mean more to me than hers. Oh..and you'll laugh at this. Apparently she's been on my website and watched all my videos, yes INCLUDING the one of me sitting in the Austin airport on my way to meet her a few years ago where I gushed on and on about how she was my hero. She was like, "That video of you talking about me being your hero was so precious!" Um.hello?? Embarrassing much?? I was certainly flattered that she had been checking up on me, but now that I know she might read this stuff, I made a mental note to tone down the germ-age. In fear that my head was going to explode from all Bonnie's flattery and kindness, I quietly snuck away when she turned to talk to some other guests. I didn't wanna make an ass of myself telling her what she means to me.like I did the time I tried to corner Jack Ingram backstage at a festival in Austin. My band instilled the "Three Sentences Rule" after that night; for three years, I was not allowed to say more to him than, "Hi," "We are excited about the show," and "Thanks for having us!"

So there you have it - a magical moment in a sacred theater with one of the all-time greatest singers making a song dedication to little ole ME. THAT'S how the Ryman was J Thank all of you for asking and for being part of this historic week.

And now I'm gonna go bask in the glory of it all.

The Story Behind the Song

There is a framed poster that hangs in my writing room from a Ryman show a few years back when Robert Earl Keen pulled me onstage to sing Walking Cane with him. He autographed it for me before he and the band left town that night. It says: “To Bonnie - let your MUSIC be your guide.” I noticed that poster the other day, and it made me want to share the story behind one of my favorite songs off the new album. This is the chorus:

“THE BEST SONGS COME FROM BROKEN HEARTS” The best songs come from broken hearts From busted dreams and beat up guitars From times like these when I’m down on my knees, it’s true You gotta dig deep within the well of your soul To find the will to sing the words that only you know About going through hell and living to tell the truth But the best songs come from broken hearts… I decided I was maxed out on sad songs a few years ago after my short, disastrous marriage and the two-year struggle that followed it gave birth to about two hundreds tunes on the subject of “heartache.” When I started thinking about making another record, I knew I didn’t want it to be a self-indulgent collection of ballads about how hard life is and how sad I felt and blah blah blah blah. We’ve all got enough of that going on as it is – I didn’t want to compound the problems by making my listeners feel WORSE! Instead, I wanted to make a record that made people feel HAPPY and gave them HOPE, because, in all honesty, that was what I needed more than anything during that time. One problem: I didn’t feel any hope at the time. One day it all started to change. I was in a really dark place at the time - nothing made sense anymore, and I’d exhausted all my options for feeling better. As my friend Keisha always jokes, I was “ready for the Lord to return”, if ya know what I mean! But I heard a voice coaxing me to pick up the guitar, and as cheesy as it may sound, I somehow channeled my angst into the rhythmic beating of that guitar and created a melody that sounded as painful as what I was feeling and in doing so, I found release in the sound of my own chords playing back to me in validation. It was like I had figured out how to transfer my emotion to the guitar in a way that playing that song literally relieved me of the emotional burden I was feeling. The next day when I got up and felt like crap, I picked up the guitar and did the same thing: I wrote another song and I felt better again. And the next day, I did it again and again and after a while, I had made it out of the dark and had a handful of tunes that I wanted to share with the world. I have always known that music has power, but I remember that day as being significant because it was the first time I realized my music was more than just a tool for me to channel pain - that was the day I saw that it had the power to HEAL me. It was the first time I had ever written my way to a better place. I think of the REK poster now and I understand that by letting my music be my GUIDE in those troubled times, I found a silver lining in that midst of all that disappointment and sorrow: A brand new song of hope. In honor of our Kickstarter countdown (which wraps up in 8 days!!!), I decided to share “The Best Songs Come From Broken Hearts” for all of you who want to hear what that journey out of the dark sounded like for me that day.

For the next week, it will be available as a free stream from my website at the homepage:http://www.bonniebishop.com

I hope you LOVE this tune and it inspires you to go pre-order your copy of this awesome new CD cause THAT will really help me get closer to meeting my campaign funding!! Please share the website and this tune with all your friends and family, because I truly believe in this album and I want it to reach as many people as possible!! In closing, thank all of you SINCERELY for reading this, for believing with me, and for loving music enough to care about where and who it all comes from. YOU make it worth it!

To the Lovers, the Dreamers and Me

This past week in California marked a turning point in my career. The day Bonnie Raitt's new album came out, Meghan and I started pulling over at random Starbucks along the coast just so I could walk in and see it sitting there at the counter with my song listed on the back. It takes everything I have not to blurt out the words "I have a song on this album!!!" to all the baristas, and I know it has already become my Dad's favorite new pastime to announce to everyone in line that his daughter wrote track number 7.

Anyone who has been a part of my musical journey knows what an important milestone this is for me, and what a long, uphill battle its been to prove to my peers in the music industry and, perhaps most importantly, to myself that I could do it. In this business, you have to function under the notion that dreams DO come true. How else would I have been able to power through some of those four-hour bar gigs where the owners refused to turn down the volume on the jumbo TV screen they forced me to perform under?

Up to now, all my hard work has been in faith that "some day" it would all pay off, that "one day when" every hardship and rejection i endured would be justified. And now after ten years, that some day arrived when Bonnie Raitt released that album with my song on it. Its hard to believe that just two short years ago, I was going through the darkest period of my life, so dark that there were mornings I literally couldn't find a reason to get out of bed...and had it not been for my faith in God i probably wouldn't have. But everything that is happening in my life right now is so GOOD, so magically and deeply fulfilling, that it makes everything i went through to get here seem not so bad.

This weekend I met a little girl who told me she was a singer. I made the point of looking her directly in the eye and telling her that she CAN be anything she wants to be, that dreams DO come true, and it felt really good not to hear that nagging voice in my head going, "Well YOURS haven't!" I can sense that something inside me has shifted because of all this. It has made me a believer in the impossible notion of Redemption, and even as I type this, I can hear Bob Marley's "Redemption Song" reaffirming my newfound joy. I now KNOW that dreams come true, and there's a Starbuck's on every corner to remind me in case i forget. And that means this is a whole new ball game...

I want to leave you with this quote by Mary Anne Radmacher, who wrote: "Stand often in the company of dreamers, for they tickle your common sense and believe you can achieve things which are impossible." I love that.

My next dream? I wanna see my new album "Free" get FUNDED so i can get it out to the world! I really need yalls help on this Kickstarter campaign ( http://www.bonniebishop.com/kick ) so I'm BELIEVING in a miracle to raise the rest of this money and I hope you will believe with me!!

Thank all of you for reading and may you be inspired to follow your own dreams.

The Easter Bunny Forgot About Me So I'm Heading to California

I spent the quintessential Southern Sunday with my family – we went to church, ate lunch, and then enjoyed the ancient Texas tradition of sitting on the back porch at my parent’s ranch in Wimberley. I love days like this, when the sun is just hot enough to warm your skin and the breeze is blowing across the Blanco valley like an old friend, reminding you that good days with the people you love are meant to be cherished. The conversation always turns to stories of more good old times, when the kids were running around butt ass naked in the sprinklers and there were always those orange jelly candies in Grandma’s ceramic chicken on top of her TV. There were no kids in town to hunt eggs with this year, and I was sad to hear that my mother has officially decided I am too old for an Easter basket. It’s a bittersweet feeling when you realize you are no longer considered to be one of the “kids” in our family, because that means no stocking on Christmas morning, and, as was the case today, no plastic painted basket full of yummie pink and blue candies and oversized chocolate bunnies waiting on the counter for you on Easter. The upside is that I get to put Kahlua in my coffee in the morning and my mom can’t say anything about it.

Tomorrow Meghan and I are leaving for the West Coast, the land of fairy tales and dreamers! Or at least that’s the allure it’s always had for me. Seems like lots of big exciting things are always happening in California, so Meghan and I booked a couple shows and we’re gonna see where we the adventure takes us.

So far we’ve planned to stop in beautiful Marfa, Texas on the way out, possibly swing up to see the Grand Canyon in Arizona, and I just LOVE the Coffee Cup restaurant in Boulder City, NV so we might make a guest appearance there at some point. After that, we will head north along the Pacific Ocean to playSacramento, back down to Los Angeles on Saturday night for my first-ever Hotel Café appearance, and then the finale will bea private party Tuesday evening in beautiful La Quinta, CA,where the Coachella Music Festival just happens to be going on simultaneously!!

Now, there aren’t a lot of places I find more beautiful or peaceful than the porch of my guest house on my parent’s ranch, but the fantasy of driving along the Pacific Coast Highway with the windows down and the radio blasting is just enough to motivate me to pack up a suitcase full of sundresses and start driving. So that’s what I’m-a-gonna do!

Happy Easter to God’s people and I look forward to seeing your faces on the road this week and in the near future! OH…and if you’ve got recommendations for great taco stands along our route, please post them to Facebook – I am on a mission to find the best Lobster taco on the West Coast! Peace and good things to all!

Dear Mom, Please Send Febreeze

WOW! What a stinkin’ WEEK it’s been on the road – and by “stinkin” I am definitely referring in part to the funk that has begun to emanate from the back of the Rav 4, where our suitcases full of wadded up dirty clothes are beginning to grow mold and a suspicious green cloud has taken to hovering over the hole in the backseat where an avocado went missing last Thursday. I know Meghan and I have a truly unique friendship because most people would have killed each other after visiting nearly 30 radio stations and driving 3500 miles in just 9 days, but NOT US!! We’re still cracking each other up, making funny videos, and planning for the next road trip to California in a couple weeks ☺

SXSW went by in a blur last weekend. I know this much: I played two great but very fast shows on Friday and, on Saturday, I discovered my two new favorite bands in Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros and the very popular Mumford & Sons. What fantastic performances…seriously inspired me. Edward was like watching a Pentecostal minister give a musical sermon and Mumford…well Marcus Mumford just spoke to my soul. As an added bonus, my childhood-pal-turned-famous-actress Abigail Spencer came to Austin to visit me and do the schmooze thing at the festival, and she was kind enough to let me tag along with her to some swanky after-parties where I got a lot of dirty looks for my snarky off hand comments about how cool Austin USED to be before all the Californians moved here. This was the same party where I put my foot in my mouth and made the comment that I had “no use for MySpace” to the very person who has just PURCHASED the site and was, in fact, throwing the very after-party at which I was drinking my free Maker’s and diet. Oh well – so I’m not cool enough to hang out with Abby’s L.A. crowd. I was glad we got to enjoy some quality girlfriend time together, particularly the evening in which we filmed and improvised a very spirited choreography routine to the tracks from my new album. Sadly, that footage will NOT be reappearing on YouTube because, after watching it, I came to the painful realization that I just can’t do backbends as well as Abby can. In fact, our dance routine was something akin to watching Grace Kelly and Mary Catherine Gallagher. Enough said.

Today Meghan and I hit the Panhandle fast and furious, and I made an impromptu appearance at the Floydada Middle School Girls’ Softball game where I gave a stunning Whitney-esque performance of our National Anthem. I was unable to find my white track suit and matching head band, so instead I chose to don one of the traditional green and gold Floydada softball team parkas that one of the girls was kind enough to loan me. I’m not sure anyone knew who the hell I was or what exactly I was doing singing the National Anthem for a Division 1A softball team, but all nine fans in attendance gave me a resounding applause. Afterwards, as we rolled out of town with our windows down, flinging dust in our wake and singing “Bad Seed” at the tops of our lungs like a modern day Thelma and Louise, I thought to myself proudly, “These are the moments that make life worth living.”