Tim Easton and Beth Bombara played Lost River Sessions LIVE on Thursday, marking the beginning of the third season of live shows at the Capitol Arts Center in Bowling Green.
Easton, a singer-songwriter from Nashville, has published more than 100 songs and has performed all over the U.S. and in Europe. Bombara, who is from St. Louis, released her latest album in 2017, called Map & No Direction.
The two songwriters offered a glimpse into their songwriting process before the show. Easton leans heavily on technology for his songwriting these days.
“Lately, I use the telephone - the cell phone as the capturing device,” said Easton. “I’m jotting down ideas on that. I’m spitting lyrics into my notes or just opening up the voice memo [app] and I’m always throwing something on there. If you ask any songwriter traveling today, they’ll probably have 80 or 90 voice memos in there just waiting, so I do that. Overheard conversations, sometimes it's something that starts right after I get out of bed in the morning.”
Easton’s latest album is called Paco and the Melodic Polaroids. The “Paco” in question is the nickname for the guitar he’s had slung around his shoulder for more than three decades. The name came about when he let several Grateful Dead fans stay at his apartment while he lived in Paris.
“One of them got up in the morning and said ‘hey does your guitar have a name?’ I said ‘no’ and he said ‘Paco’. So he named the guitar, and the name stuck and this new album is just me and and Paco and the harmonica and some foot stomps and 10 old songs that could have come out of any era.”
“Usually, I’m inspired when I’m not looking for it, so everyday life stuff,” said Bombara when asked about her inspiration. “Whether that’s something I see when I’m driving by the side of the road, or something that somebody says that just strikes me in a peculiar way – I’m like ‘oh that was cool’ and mediate on that for a bit. So, yeah, really pretty much any and everything.”
Bombara, who grew up in Michigan, now calls St. Louis home.
“I found this really warm environment for anything creative, so music, art, food – the food culture,” she said. “It seems like everybody is being creative and wants to support each other which has been a really nice place to be and experience all of that growth together.”
Sound mixing and transmission of Lost River Sessions LIVE is coordinated by Don Eastman, Sam Holaday, Bob Mengel and Jeff Petrocelli.
Lost River Sessions is made possible thanks to generous financial support from Mike Simpson, Farmers National Bank, the Bowling Green Area Convention & Visitors Bureau, Glasgow EPB, Warren County Public Library and Katelyn and Zach Simpson.