Beth Bombara’s latest album might be titled Map & No Direction, but in the course of a year and a lot of change and growth, she has found her path. “I think a lot of little things compounded, and I just woke up one day and wasn’t excited about the things I normally was excited about,” she says of writing the title track for the album, which is out March 3. “So I kind of found myself in this darker mental emotional space. My way of processing that and trying to figure out why am I feeling this way about what’s going on here and my self-therapy was writing the song ‘Map & No Direction.’ When you are trying to create art, but you’re also trying to make a living for yourself, and kind of toeing that line, it’s hard. [Writing the song] was this process of me kind of rediscovering my love for writing and my love of music.”
Raised in Michigan, Bombara has called St. Louis home for the past decade. Her steady work ethic has garnered her international acclaim and name recognition across the Atlantic, but she is definitely a part of the fold of the deep, tough, indie persona that is the iconic St. Louis musician. As she prepares for her album release party and concert at Off Broadway on Saturday, Bombara talks about the risks she took in concentrating on music full time, how she continues to grow creatively, and remaining fluent in her universal language of music.
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Your public persona is as a musician, but have you ever held down a 9 to 5 job?
To pursue a career in music, I’ve always had to have a job that’s kind of flexible. I’ve never had a normal 9 to 5 job. I have had jobs, but that being said, they‘ve been flexible, so they haven’t offered insurance, they haven’t offered paid vacation, none of that. When the Affordable Care Act passed, it was a lifesaver for me. I could actually be working jobs that didn’t have benefits so I could keep pursuing a music career, but I could also afford health insurance. I quit those jobs when my last album came out, and focused full-time on music.
What was the turning point between albums four and five that made you decide to work exclusively as a musician?
I don’t want to have any regrets in life. I want to be able to say that I put myself out there and I tried things. People sometimes tell me that “Oh, that’s a really brave thing to do,” but I just see it as that’s just me, and that’s what I want to do, so I should just pursue that. But it did take a big leap of faith. Having a job—it’s a security blanket. [When you] step outside of that into an unknown space…it’s tough, but I think it’s great. I just really wanted to be able to do that.
How has that benefitted you creatively?
It’s been crippling and freeing at the same time. After working through those feelings of self-doubt, then I felt like I was able to come to a place of empowerment and freedom to where I really felt more empowered to do things, and freeing creatively.
How can that be heard in this album?
I think the direction of the songs phonically, I feel like it’s different than anything I’ve ever put out before. I think that there’s some kind of creative freedom that has expressed itself in the new songs. [My husband] Kit [Harmon] and I actually co-wrote a lot of the songs, so it’s been more of a collaborative effort. We didn’t have a band record with us. We just recorded everything…a lot of guitars and keys and singing, and Kit singing background vocals that he recorded. He tracked all the drums, all the bass, guitar… and the thing I’m most excited about is he tracked a bunch of strings, so it has these really lush, orchestral string sections in a few of the songs. We both got to stretch ourselves musically with the recording of the songs. To have the freedom to do that has been really nice, to allow yourself time to really work out parts and flesh the song out.
Do you think of yourself as a St. Louis musician, or as a musician who happens to be based in St. Louis?
I see myself as a St. Louis musician. Playing with other musicians and working with other people who run studios in town and being a part of that community, I feel like a St. Louis musician. But also since I’ve been doing it for so long, I’ve had the chance to tour outside of St. Louis, and that’s been great too. Finishing school close to St. Louis, I noticed there’s a different energy here and the people I was meeting, and the bands I was hearing about—even bands that had come from that area 10 years before I got there—I started to absorb that my last year of school. I decided I was going to move to St. Louis because the energy was good, there were opportunities, and there was a supportive community.
What’s next for you?
I have a record label in the UK that’s putting out the album, so they’re talking about trying to bring us over there to do some European touring, which is really exciting. With the last album, I would mail records to Germany and the UK—people were buying records from there, so I got the sense [that] I need to go over there. I’m really looking forward to meeting people overseas and playing gigs over there.
Beth’s selected tracks from the new record:
“Lonely Few”: Just because of the subject matter, I feel really strongly about. I wrote it from my perspective of seeing all of these injustices happening in the world, and even in St. Louis with Ferguson and the Michael Brown shooting and all of that police brutality. Even overflowing into what’s going on with immigrants and refugees and that whole crisis. It’s heartbreaking. I feel powerless in a lot of it, just saying ‘I see you and I see that you’re being marginalized. And i ‘m aware and it shouldn’t be happening.”
“Sweet Time”: It’s a relationship song, and it’s kind of from the perspective of being in a long-term relationship. One thing that I love about making music is that it’s kind of a universal language. I hope that there are things that speak to people, songs that speak to them in a way that can connect to them, and be encouraged, even if it’s not an encouraging song. It’s good to know that the feelings we have are valid.
Beth Bombara releases Map & No Direction with a show at Off Broadway (3509 Lemp) on February 25. Jack Grelle and Sister Wizzard open the show. Doors open at 7:30 p.m., and the show starts at 8 p.m. Tickets are $10. For more information, go to offbroadwaystl.com or bethbombara.com.
