|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Building a lifetime in the music industry blossomed for Karla Bonoff as much because of what flowed from her mouth and fingertips as a teenager as it did from being in the “right place at the right time” for her gift.
Being “musically inclined” in the Los Angeles area in the late 1960s and early 1970s proved kismet for Bonoff, who would go onto a career of making music and performing worldwide.
“A magical movement kind of happening there, and to me it was intoxicating … Compared to school, it was irresistible,” Bonoff told the Weekly in a phone interview Friday ahead of her upcoming concert in Livermore.
“I’m just proud of the fact that I’ve been able to make this my career and support myself for 40-plus years,” added Bonoff, who’s known for her solo albums as well as penning original songs performed by other artists like Linda Ronstadt, Bonnie Raitt and Wynonna Judd.
Raised in Santa Monica, Bonoff started out writing and performing as a teenager, including open mic nights at the Troubadour with her sister. She later played in a band called Bryndle.
“It was the only thing I was really good at … lucky to be there when all that happened,” she said.
The professional environment was conducive at the time too. “You could really make a good living,” Bonoff said. “I was fortunate to make records in those days … it’s a much more difficult career to choose now, kind of a cottage industry.”
She acknowledged that she wasn’t really setting out to write songs for other artists, but that’s a path that began to emerge. “They were looking for songs, and I was there,” she recalled.
Ronstadt sang three Bonoff originals on her 1976 album “Hasten Down the Wind” — “Someone To Lay Down Beside Me”, “Lose Again” and “If He’s Ever Near”. Raitt’s 1977 album “Sweet Forgiveness” included her rendition of Bonoff’s “Home”.
That jolt of success as a songwriter led to Bonoff getting a record deal and opening for Jackson Browne.
Her self-titled debut album came out in 1977. “I’m also proud of my first album, kind of a perfect album,” Bonoff said.
After “Karla Bonoff”, she released five other studio albums over the decades, including a Christmas compilation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Her peak solo song was “Personally” off her 1982 album “Wild Heart of the Young” — reaching No. 19 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts.
Her songs have been recorded or performed by folk, rock and country artists. But she’s largely found her motivation and inspiration by playing on the road.
“Touring is what I do mostly. I enjoy it,” she said.
The concert next Wednesday (Nov. 20) at the Bankhead Theater won’t be the first time she’s been on the stage in the Tri-Valley. She played the Firehouse Arts Center more than a decade ago, saying she remembered “wandering around shopping in downtown Pleasanton. It was nice.”
While looking forward to her return to the area, Bonoff is coming to Livermore with a heavy heart. She was set to start a new tour, including an early stop at the Bankhead, in September alongside longtime friend JD Souther – but the Hall of Fame singer-songwriter died unexpectedly on Sept. 17.
“We both came up together in the L.A., Southern California singer-songwriter circle,” Bonoff said of Souther.
They later toured some in the 1980s and ’90s, including a couple trips to play in Japan. “I always told him it would be fun to do something together, both of us on stage playing the whole time,” she said.
That collaboration was set to come to fruition this year. Bonoff and Souther had a unique-experience concert in the works; she was looking forward to getting to sing on some of his most well-known writing credits like “New Kid in Town” and “Best of My Love”. They had rehearsed just a couple weeks before his death.
She said Souther’s passing met her with “huge disappointment and sadness … the bottom dropped out of everything for me, personally and professionally.”
After taking time to process, Bonoff was ready to get back out on the road, opting to make up a few California dates this month.
“We were of course devastated by the sudden death of JD Souther, Chris (Carter) and I had actually interviewed him in August for our podcast Beyond the Stage so we were both looking forward to meeting him in person,” Ruth Egherman, director of marketing for Livermore Valley Arts, told the Weekly.
“As a dear friend of JD Souther, Karla Bonoff was too heartbroken to go ahead with a concert on the original date but wanted to perform for the Tri-Valley audiences, so we found a mutually agreeable date when she was scheduled to be back in the general area,” Egherman said. “It’s sure to be an amazing performance and quite powerful.”
“Believe it or not, this is not the first time something like this has happened to us,” Egherman added. “In November of 2014, Manhattan Transfer was scheduled to perform and their founder, Tim Hauser, died suddenly of cardiac arrest prior to their performance. In this case however, the band went ahead and performed and it was an extremely moving performance.”
Bonoff’s show is scheduled for Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at the Bankhead in downtown Livermore. She will be accompanied during her set by Nina Gerber, who’s joined her on stage for some two decades.
“Grateful that I can still go out there and do this,” she said.
Her concert comes during a busy, big-name stretch for the Bankhead.
Grammy Award winner Marc Cohn, known best for his 1991 hit “Walking in Memphis”, is playing the venue this Friday night.
On Saturday (Nov. 16) at 1 p.m., Alameda County Supervisor David Haubert is sponsoring a free screening of the local history documentary film, “The Apology”.
Haubert told the Weekly the event “allows me to share and highlight a very important part of the history of Alameda County with my constituents. I encourage residents to come view this remarkable documentary which I hope will create awareness, understanding and admiration for the past residents of Russell City and the resilience they demonstrated through their plight for their land rights!”
On Saturday evening, the Bankhead will welcome the Del Valle Fine Arts concert starring pianist Jon Nakamatsu.
Then on Sunday (Nov. 17), British actor and comedian John Cleese (of Monty Python, Harry Potter and “Fawlty Towers” fame) will take the stage for “an evening filled with laughter, absurdity and gifted storytelling through his trademark eccentricity and clever wordplay” as part of the Rae Dorough Speaker Series, according to LVA officials. The Cleese appearance is waitlist only at this point.
Finishing off November at the Bankhead include the final installments of the “Cosmic Odyssey” immersive attraction, standup comedian Gary Gulman on Nov. 22, Earlier Than the Bird with other downtown venues from 7-10 a.m. Nov. 23, 10,000 Maniacs in concert at 8 p.m. Nov. 23, The ABBA Concert Experience on Nov. 24 and God is a Scottish Drag Queen’s “Christmas Special” on Nov. 30.
For tickets and more information, go to livermorearts.org.
