Bonnie Bishop – The Walk

Heute erscheint The Walk, das neue Album von BONNIE BISHOP. Exklusiv für Popmonitor hat die Singer-Songwriterin aus Texas die sieben neuen Songs kommentiert …

LOVE REVOLUTION

The search for purpose. This song is what started The Walk – the need for deeper meaning. It’s not fulfilling for me to aim for success in the music business or worse, to try to become “famous.” The goal of music and art needs to always be about creating something that inspires myself and others towards a better place, a higher place. It is a revolution that is taking place within me and it is getting stronger the further I get away from Nashville and the music business. I believe we are all responsible for changing what we do not like in ourselves, and for figuring out the why behind the what ever we are doing. My personal love revolution is about realigning my goals and musical pursuits with the emotional needs of humanity – in particular the need for people to experience unconditional love and forgiveness.

KEEP ON MOVING

Perseverance. Life is not an easy walk. It is drudgery at times. Some days it is pain, loss, fear. There are many regrets about the past and there is so much anxiety about the future…sometimes it is hard to navigate with all the burdens on our minds. But life is also cyclical, and that’s a good thing. The world keeps going in spite of whatever happens around us. We may be dragging our feet on The Walk, but the sun continues to rise and we have to keep getting out of bed and putting one foot in front of the other because that is what is required in order to LIVE. We have to Keep. On. Movin. This song has a steady continuous beat because that is how I hear the pulse of life: like a piece of music that grooves on and on from one generation to the next.

THE WALK

Doubt. I believe this song came to me from somewhere beyond this world, because I heard it like a chant from a native tribe of people. Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh. I was walking through a park in Georgia that was a known Indian battleground and although there were no words at first, I felt that something was trying to communicate the idea that humanity is the eternal thread. Even though we all leave this world one day, the souls that tread this ground before us remain part of the fabric of life. Now. you can’t talk about the journey of life and not talk about death, that’s a fact. But nothing stirs up people’s doubts and fears of the unknown quite like death does. The lines at the beginning of this song hold so much more meaning to me now than they did when I wrote them, having just lost my beloved grandmother and a dear friend, separately, in a tragic accident: “Well the past is never dead, they say. So maybe we’ll meet on the walk someday.” Walking through the loss and sadness of both of these experiences, the incongruity with which a person exists and then is suddenly gone…it can really make you question what is real. Doubting what we know, or what we think we know, is part of the natural process of The Walk, but that doesn’t make it any less scary.

EVERY HAPPINESS UNDER THE SUN

Gratitude. Sometimes we have to battle for our sanity and happiness as we face the hardships and fears that come with this life. I have learned that we all have the power within us to change our life by changing our mindset. For some of us, the practice of gratitude makes all the difference between depression and a life well-lived. When I find the things that are good, when I choose to focus on the beauty around me and will myself to appreciate the little things, these are actions I am taking personally to improve my situation on any given day. I have started writing down what I am thankful for every day because I am experiencing the transformative power of gratitude. It can shine a light on even the darkest day.

I DON’T LIKE TO BE ALONE

Vulnerability. When I left Nashville two years ago, I said I wanted to find out who I really was – to truly know myself. I was living by myself in an apartment in Fort Worth and I had stopped drinking because I realized I was using alcohol as a coping mechanism. Some of the things I discovered during that year of sobriety are hard to admit, in particular my fear of loneliness. I have always prided myself on being an independent woman, but I look back now and see that a lot of my relationships have merely masked the insecurities and other “not-so-pretty parts” that I try to hide from the rest of the world. Having someone to hold me makes me feel safe and loved and wanted, as opposed to being on my own and having to be confident without the validation of another person. It’s a problem that a lot of us have – we would rather be in a relationship with the wrong person than in a relationship with ourselves – because that means being responsible for our own happiness. This is a truth that I have found to be both freeing and also difficult to accept: We are the only ones who can make ourselves happy.

Women At The Well

Overcoming Shame. I’m not sure how we got onto the topic, but my friend Rebecca Lynn Howard and I were discussing the story from the Bible about the woman at the well. It was the custom in those times for the women in the village to gather water every morning at the town well, which they usually did very early so as to avoid the desert heat. But in the story, the woman who met Jesus at the well was there at the hottest time of day. She told Jesus she was there alone because she was not “clean” and that she had had “many husbands,” which some people have interpreted to mean that she was a prostitute. Jesus forgives the woman her sins and she is healed of her shame. I have always loved this story because it’s about experiencing freedom from our past, but what got Rebecca and I tickled was applying this situation to present day. We decided that the woman at the well came there when she did because didn’t want to be around all the other women in town, who were probably gossiping about her behind her back. So this song is dedicated to all the sluts and whores out there who are tired of bitches talking shit. You are free girl, act like it!

SONG DON’T FAIL ME NOW

The Power Of Music To Heal. Life is hard. Some of us wrestle with depression on a regular basis and some of us are carrying such heavy burdens that it is difficult to get out of bed in the morning. And honestly, the current state of the world is enough to snuff the sunlight out any given day, if you allow it to. But that is why I make music: because it makes a positive difference. Not just in my own life, but in the lives of others. Sound can change your brain chemistry, it’s been proven. Just like hearing a mournful melody can somehow soothe us at the same time, music heals. That’s what makes it so powerful. Even more beautiful is the fact that melody is a universal language, hence the lyric: “It doesn’t matter what you sing, just feel the joy that it brings!” That’s my goal on stage – to really feel the joy. Feel the music. Let it out. To heal and be healed. It’s the whole reason for this album.

BONNIE BISHOP
The Walk
(BB Music / Thirty Tigers)
VÖ: 18.10.2019

www.bonniebishop.com

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