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Tracy Bonham played the First Act Guitar Studio in September 2005. She rolled out an intimate set of new tunes from her latest CD Blink the Brightest and some old favorites as well. Joined by John Darling on electric guitar, she played acoustic guitar and violin.
FA: You started playing classical violin at age 9 and went to college on music scholarship and then left to pursue a different type of music…what music were you interested in?
I had been singing my whole life, and also playing piano, and I had done community musical theatre… singing always came easier to me… after two years, I realized that I didn’t want the classical life as much as everyone else did there. I didn’t really fit in, I was too fiery, it was more about emotion than technique for me, so I decided that it was time to break away.
FA: How did you wind up in Boston?
I had a friend from Oregon that I grew up with and he was in Boston going to Berklee. He said to come and check it out. I was interested in being a jazz singer, so I moved out the the East Coast. My parents were freaking out for turning my back on a scholarship…I don’t blame them. My dad said I should be prepared to be a starving artist.
FA: Did you then form a band? Did you record your demo first?
They kind of both came together at the same time. I was waitressing, and singing in a wedding band, and doing jingles. And I had a friend who was a drummer around town named Mike Levesque, and he was in a whole bunch of bands. He sat me down one day and said, “You’re better than this. You don’t have to spend your life only in wedding bands. Just grab a guitar and sit down and try to write a song.” So I did, and it was horrible, but it went on from there. And then my only goal was to have a band in Boston, be gigging around Boston. Then I wrote “Mother, Mother” and everything started coming together really quickly. It’s good to have friends that encourage you.
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FA: Do you have any advice for beginning players?
I think something that I learned was that you should really stay in touch with your heart and what you want to say and don’t think too much about what other people think. If you get too wrapped up in the business it can take away your focus and intention. I had to detach from it and get back to my original intention which was making music and expressing myself.
FA: Is there one aspect of making music that you like best?
It changes for me. I think performing for me is the most exciting right now because it’s all about living inside the moment. Sometimes things are out of your control. That’s a big lesson in my life, learning to let go. Performing is this little gem of a moment where you can let it happen and let it go.
FA: Is there a typical path writing a song takes for you? For instance, do you write music then words, or does each song come together differently?
Everything comes together differently. I started branching out and writing on the piano for a while. Sometime I write songs on the violin. Sometimes I write lyrics first. And I don’t really play the guitar that well, so I end up using the same chords so I stop and go to another instrument.
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