Life falls into place for Bowersox
Written by Vicki L. Kroll | | news@toledofreepress.comEvery morning when I wake up and my feet touch the ground
There’s no telling what the day may bring, something lost, something found
Then I look at you, you’re up so high, my saving grace
That’s how I know everything falls into place
That’s the chorus of a jaunty love song called “Fall Into Place” from Crystal Bowersox’s forthcoming disc, “All That For This.”
“That song’s really special; my husband [Brian Walker] and I wrote it together, and we finished it up with [musician and producer] Jono Manson in Santa Fe,” she said. “I feel like my life has fallen into place. Everything is as it should be, and I’m very happy in this place and time.”
The singer-songwriter sounded content during a call from her home in Portland, Ore.
“I’m just kind of laying low until the tour kicks off,” Bowersox said as she finished breakfast. “I just made some bacon and eggs.”
And she made a thoughtful, heartfelt disc due on Shanachie Entertainment on March 26.
“It was a labor of love,” she said. “Everything was almost too easy.”
A tweet led her to the disc’s producer, Steve Berlin of Los Lobos.
“There’s an artist by the name of Jackie Greene; I’ve always been a fan of his. He actually opened for B.B. King at the Stranahan Theater a few years back. My dad picked up his CD at the show and gave it to me,” Bowersox said.
Crystal Bowersox
“Jackie Greene sent me a little smiley face kind of thing [on Twitter], and I totally geeked out and I sent him a message and asked him if he had any producer recommendations. He rattled off a few names and I looked them all up, and it turns out that Steve also is a resident of Portland, so it just worked out.
“It was so comfortable. I would wake up in the morning, take my boy to preschool, go to the studio, go to work — it was very normal and relaxing. I got to sleep in my own bed each night,” she said. “This was a really comfortable way of making music, and I think that came through in the music.”
The 27-year-old wrote or co-wrote 11 of the 12 tracks on the nearly 51-minute disc. Berlin suggested the cover: The Sundays’ “Here’s Where the Story Ends.”
“It was this happy, bouncy, poppy — the music itself made me feel bright. And in a place like Portland, I think that’s important because it rains a lot,” Bowersox said and laughed.
“I took a closer listen to the lyric and the chorus line, ‘It’s a little souvenir of a terrible year that makes my eyes feel sore.’ I found my own way to relate to it; it’s a personal story of mine and I attached it to the meaning of the lyric and was able to connect to the material.
“That’s really important to me. I can’t sing a song to sing a song; I have to connect in some way.”
The 2010 “American Idol” runner-up and Jakob Dylan connect on a duet, “Stitches.”
“I’ve always been a fan of Jakob Dylan and The Wallflowers,” Bowersox said. “I remember walking around my mom’s farm listening to ‘Bringing Down the Horse,’ the album in its entirety. I feel it helped me cope through some of the more difficult periods of my teenage years. You lose yourself in music and it guides you.”
Fans can hear some new music when Bowersox comes to the SeaGate Convention Centre for a 7:30 p.m. concert March 3. Tickets are $37; the show is a benefit for the Toledo School for the Arts.
“Toledo School for the Arts was a place where I felt like I finally fit in. That’s important when you’re growing up, to find a place where you belong. And even though I was still kind of a hellion, I really felt safe there,” the Elliston native said.
Bowersox will take that feistiness and big voice to New York City this spring.
“About a year ago, I let out I guess you could say a prayer to the universe and I just said: I would like to do Broadway someday. I don’t know when, in what capacity, but that’s something I’d like to explore, musical theater,” she recalled.
One year later, the phone rang with an offer to star in “Always…Patsy Cline.”
“It feels right. I’ve always loved Patsy’s music,” Bowersox said. “Rehearsals start in May, the show opens in June and I’ll stay there as long as they’ll have me.”
Will there be a special rate for Northwest Ohioans to make the pilgrimage to the Big Apple to see her portray the legendary singer?
“You’ll have to talk to the show producers,” she said and laughed. “I don’t know, but that would be great though. Charter a bus, that would be great.”
Tags: Crystal Bowersox, Los Lobos, Patsy Cline, SeaGate Centre, Steve Berlin
