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Hometown: Saint Louis, MO
Management: Nathan Burrell
Website: www.bethbombara.com
Sounds Like: Lucinda Williams, Gillian Welch, Neil Young, Shovels and Rope, Hurray for the Riff Raff
Genre: Americana
Americana artist Beth Bombara could not have created her new, self-titled album anywhere but St. Louis. On it, she and her band borrow from the city's traditions, including alt-country (Uncle Tupelo, The Bottle Rockets) and blues (Albert King, Lonnie Johnson), while embodying the collaboration, experimentation and resolve of the tight-knit scene developing there today. “There’s not much room for takers,” says Bombara. “But if you put in the work, the city rewards you.”
Bombara has been a musician for most of her life. She started a punk band in high school and, after college, began playing guitar with Samantha Crain. She moved to St. Louis and started a solo project in late 2007.
Today, Bombara is hailed as one of the city’s finest songwriters with local music journalists taking note, including former Riverfront Times music editor Kiernan Maletsky who exclaims, “When you decide to start paying attention to music in St. Louis, Beth is among the first people you will encounter.” She is equally comfortable headlining the rock club Off Broadway and the Missouri Botanical Gardens’ Whitaker Music Festival, where she recently performed for a crowd numbering over 10,000.
The forthcoming, self-titled Beth Bombara displays its authors’ finest work to date. "I’ve been playing music for a long time with various musicians and bands. I feel like I’ve really been able to pull from all of those influences and settle into a comfortable place of coexistence with them. Everything about this record feels more refined than anything I’ve released before. Artistically, it’s my best work yet,” Bombara explains.
Previous efforts have served as explorations of Bombara’s musical personality (you’ll find records written in the languages of folk, rock and Americana in her back-catalog). The new album is full of crafty melody, expert musicianship, and lyrics that find the shortest path to the truth.
“There’s an obvious focus on the newest, latest and greatest in our culture right now,” says Bombara. “I have to think that, in many instances, our constant pursuit of ‘newness’ has caused some real damage. At best, we walk right past things that aren’t marketed to us as new. And at worst, we actually cause damage to our world by going after that which is new, rather than that which is lasting.”
This album also marks a major progression in Bombara’s collaboration with her husband, fellow musician and producer Kit Hamon. “We’ve always worked together on Beth Bombara records,” Bombara says. “They’re an extension of our relationship, and the efforts that make a good song are not unlike the efforts that make a healthy relationship. Whether the result of that work is good or bad has to do with how graciously we can sort the strong ideas from the weak ones.
On Beth Bombara, they have found grace and strength to spare.
“I'm glad the rest of the world can start to discover Beth Bombara,
and multi-instrumentalists Kit and JJ Hamon. Beth's vocals, melody and
songcraft hit a new peak and the ideas and arrangements enhance this
new batch of songs to perfection. One of St. Louis' favorite
indie-folk artists has possibly upstaged herself. If you haven't heard
Beth before, this is a fine place to start.”
Nick Acquisto, Music Director - 88.1 KDHX
“A sweetly engaging EP that goes by faster than you'll notice, but full of great singles, each one you could get lost in. All buoyed by Beth's smokey voice, a perfect compliment to these tunes, each with new embellishments - trumpets, pedal steel and the like - that colour their surroundings just so.”
Jason Robinson - 88.1 KDHX
“Homegrown singer Beth Bombara pulled the ripcord on the show. She's been working her magic for several years, and she's grown a lot as an artist. After her first few songs, some might wonder why she wasn't billed higher in the lineup. It can be a brave thing accepting the opening slot, especially when you're making music as good as she is. But Bombara is in it for the long game. The music is Americana gold, a more Midwestern version of Hurray for the Riff Raff, with less of a graveyard, NOLA feel. The music is haunted and ethereal without being see-through.
Bombara is clearly one of the harder-working singer-songwriters on the local scene, with her folk-infused harmonies and semi-smokey voice, that recalls a rootsy Diana Krall on the lone prairie. The girl is on track to sell out the Peabody one day. You heard it here first.”
Kevin Korinek - 88.1 KDHX
“Her music is like a quilt where the seams are almost as beautiful as the squares. She has made both an art and craft of stitching together a variety of influences and concerns. At times, her music makes room for all the light and dark of a New Orleans funeral parade; at others, it takes on a tuneful British Invasion jangle. In the spaces between, she mines new resonance from tried-and-true forms such as folk, country, blues and rock. The grace and soul of Bombara’s voice earned her the 2012 Riverfront Times Music Award for Best Singer-Songwriter; this year, she is nominated in the Americana category.”
Aarik Danielson - The Columbia Tribune
“Her impressively fractured blend of blues, folk and country stylings feels instantly familiar yet becomes increasingly unique and insular as it unfolds before your eyes and ears. On her most recent release, the six-track "Raise Your Flag" EP, she found a creative balance between her varied and numerous influences and her routine habit of jumping genres, even within the same song. Drawing upon artists such as Gillian Welch and Neko Case for further inspiration, Bombara inhabits a vast expanse of blues-influenced rhythms and sparse folk instrumentation—not to mention a healthy dose of bucolic country attitude.”
Joshua Pickard - Nooga
“Amazing melodies, harmonies, and powerfully captivating lyrics...This EP has everything you could possibly want if you are a fan of anything Acoustic, Folk, Blues, or Jazz. Beth has not just raised the bar – she threw it out the window. I can’t wait to hear what’s next!”
Mars Perry - Mars Bands
“While "Raise Your Flag" is a relatively brief musical statement, it's long on soul and substance. Bombara reminds listeners that she is at the head of the class of St. Louis tunesmiths — and those dwelling in the Midwest, for that matter.”
Aarik Danielsen - The Columbia Tribune
"She's dedicated to writing songs with texture and tension...her newest solo EP, Raise Your Flag, has sparkle and surprising indie-pop savvy."
Roy Kasten - The Riverfront Times
"Her album "Wish I Were You" is a mature effort that highlights her honest voice, earnest songwriting, and intimate performance. This full-length shows Beth to be an extemely versatile artist who can ably handle blues, country, rock, and folk songs."
90.3 KWUR - KWUR.com
"There are a handful of folks who might compete for the crown of best songwriter in Indie Music. I don't know if she'd win or not, but Bombara definitely deserves to be in the conversation."
Wildy's World
“She's got the right amount of warble and twang to make her indie folk rock soulful and inviting.”
Snob's Music - Snob's Music
“'Wish I Were You' culls the best attributes of earlier releases and amplifies the strains of genteel country-rock and pensive, wizened balladry.....
This sweet spot between bare-bones folk and low-slung rock offers Bombara her most fertile ground and provides several standout moments.”
Christian Schaeffer - The Riverfront Times
“The songs on this album (Wish I Were You) are a blend of folk, alt-country, and indie-rock that sounds equally fitting alongside Hank Williams, Sr. and Neil Young as it does Neko Case and the Breeders.”
Matt Champion - 88.1 KDHX.org
