LISA BASTONI – AMAZING SONGS AT AMAZING THINGS

It was not my plan that night.  I had already driven 120 miles round trip to Lowell on two successive days to appear on a local radio show supporting my own songs and then traveled up to Arlington Heights to visit one of my oldest friends so we could play a few tunes together.  But when I received word that local singer-songwriter Lisa Bastoni would be playing at the Amazing Things Art Center in Framingham along with fellow songwriter Rachel Kilgour, I knew it meant returning to the road one more time. 

The Amazing Things Art Center is a coffee house performance venue.  I decided to sit directly in front of the stage in a comfortable chair situated conveniently next to a small round table.  As it was already late and I was going to have to drive a considerable distance home following the show, I went over to the concessions counter where I was greeted by three pleasant volunteers.  I asked for a coffee, which they told me would be ready in ten minutes, freshly brewed.  I took a homemade brownie back to my table, but promised myself I would not touch it until my coffee was ready. 

Rachel Kilgour stepped out on stage as the opening act.  From Duluth, Minnesota, Kilgour played well-crafted songs, filling the crowd in on her life as a singer-songwriter.  She told the audience how she travels from town to town as a musician, usually getting to know people for only one night while conveniently being able to unload all of her problems.  She sang about growing up in Minnesota, her recent divorce, about coming out to her mother, and about memories of her father.  Kilgour left the stage to an outpouring of applause. 

After a short interlude, local performer Lisa Bastoni took the stage.  Dressed in black, wearing her customary boots and playing her vintage Gibson J-50 Texan guitar, Bastoni nervously explained to the crowd how odd it was that she had just spent an entire afternoon with her young children (an audience that normally demands attention) and was now on a stage in front of a bunch of completely quiet adults also seeking attention but in a totally different way.   She launched into Loretta, an old Townes Van Zandt song.  Bastoni’s vocals were smooth and strong.  Her guitar playing perfectly complimented Bastoni’s beautiful voice. 

Bastoni began playing Nearby, a song getting consistent airplay on radio stations across America such as WUMB that feature and support independent musicians.  “I was wasting time in all the wrong places, sifting through the river of faces.  I was busy looking at the stars in the sky.  You were so nearby.”  Vulnerable and beautiful detailing the ironic nature of discovering your true soul mate, Nearby completely captured the attention of the crowd at the small venue. 

Playfully conversational and willing to share while displaying an obvious hint of shyness, Bastoni talked about her current situation in life, her divorce, and then recoiled in laughter wondering why she was getting so personal while on stage before a roomful of complete strangers.  Quickly redirecting herself she broke into the song for which her most recent album is named, How We Want to Live.  “We said we’d wait until the fall, don’t look now but here we are.  Are we ready to decide how we want to live?” The song tells the story of a couple that knows they are at the point in a relationship when things are no longer working.  This realization is sad, sometimes defeating, and yet requires the necessary conversation a couple must have when they are forced to confront the reality that they have reached the end of what was once a beautiful relationship.  “Live together or apart, tell me what’s inside your heart.”

Bastoni then unleashed In this Town, the hit single from her 2017 album, The Wishing Hour. “And I know you’ve got a girlfriend and she’s prettier than me.  There’s a vintage Gibson flat top right there in your backseat.  And your hands are reaching for me as the sun’s going down.  How’d you ever learn to play the blues in this town?”  Bastoni introduced Never Gone to You as a song dedicated to the strained relationship she had growing up with her father.  “This is how we learn to love the ones that treat you badly.  Sometimes he says I love you, sometimes he walks away.  Wasn’t anything you said, nothing you did or didn’t do.  Maybe he’s gone, but he’s never gone to you.”  Bastoni then performed Beautiful Girl, a song written for her young daughter as a message of strength.  “Cause it’s alright to be gentle.  And it’s alright to be kind.  It’s alright to be brave and scared.  I want you to know that I love you more than anything in this world.  I want you to know that you’re a beautiful girl.” 

Bastoni switched gears and announced that she would play “a happy song about a first date,” called Walk a Little Closer.  “It doesn’t make sense my dear.  I just want to stay right here.  Let me walk a little closer to you.”  Rabbit Hole, a beautiful song from The Wishing Hour reminiscent of an old Paul Simon recording poured out of Bastoni as she fingerpicked with pointed emotion.  “Oh, how I loved you with an unprotected heart, and how you blew it wide open when you busted it apart.  That was the best thing that you did, I can see that now, all I know is I moved on although I don’t remember how.  There’ll be no walk down memory lane.  There’ll be no late night call for old time’s sake.  And I’m not slipping down that rabbit hole again.”  Wichita ended a foray of original Lisa Bastoni songs, a lively country shuffle taking the listener through one of those hot summer days where any dirt road might be the road that leads to your dreams but, at that particular moment, you are just happy to be exactly where you are.  “Keep holding on as long as you can with your head in the stars and your hands on the plow.”

Bastoni ended her set with an old Richard Thompson classic, Beeswing, mentioning how she had routinely played the Thompson song in her days busking in the Boston subways with other aspiring performers like Mary Lou Lord.  Bastoni then laughed and told a funny story about later having the good fortune to meet Richard Thompson, although somewhat awkwardly, while playing at the Kerrville Folk Festival. 

Rachel Kilgour returned to the stage to join Bastoni.  Together, they closed out the night performing a fun version of Van Morrison’s 1970 song, Crazy Love.    

Clever and engaging, Lisa Bastoni leaves audience members with an experiential feeling similar to one a reader might have after finishing a great book.  Her story of obvious emotional struggle peppered with a sense of appreciative optimism is evident in her music, lyrics, and storytelling.   

An inspiring night at the Amazing Things Art Center in Framingham was just what the doctor ordered, the long trip home providing me with the perfect opportunity to process and contemplate Lisa Bastoni’s musical narrative while slowly traveling dark and uncharacteristically empty roads. 

With a renewed sense of perspective, possibility, and chance, it was a long drive that I was happy to make.