A decade is a long time between albums, but Alyssa Bonagura has chosen the optimum moment to release America’s Backroads.
“It tells the story of the last ten years of my life,” explains the Nashville songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. “These are songs that I’ve played live or just never cut. When you write songs, sometimes they’re perfect for that moment. At other times they meet you years later and you’re like: ‘Oh my god, now that’s for me!’ That’s the magic of it.”
The richly autobiographical America’s Backroads, Bonagura’s fourth studio album, details a life spent criss-crossing the States, gathering experiences – good and bad – along the way. Predisposed to a sweeping chorus, she’s a classic Southern storyteller at heart, driven as much by rock’n’roll as by rootsy country.
“I listened to a lot of rock music growing up, a lot of electric guitar music,” she says. “I’ve always loved people like Bonnie Raitt, Sheryl Crow and Alanis Morissette. And all the women that kind of spearheaded that movement.”
Bonagura was destined for this kind of life. The daughter of Kathie Baillie and Michael Bonagura, founders of hit country trio Baillie & The Boys, she spent her childhood on the tour bus: “I think it’s because I was surrounded by music all the time. I wanted to be like my parents.” By 1998, aged 10, she was duetting with Kenny Rogers, and at 16 she was opening for Marty Stuart.
In 2006 she was granted an overseas scholarship to study sound technology at Liverpool Institute For Performing Arts.
“I was playing at the Zanzibar Club while I was there,” she recalls. “Pete Wylie turned up one night, saw me playing guitar and singing, and asked me to join his band. To be honest, I didn’t know who he was. But I joined The Mighty Wah! for the next two or three years. That whole experience changed everything. I came into my own as a songwriter.”
Bonagura channelled it all into her 2010 debut The English Diaries. She’s since had her songs covered by Steven Tyler, The Shires and a slew of contemporary country artists. But America’s Backroads is easily her finest statement yet.
“The title track led the way,” she says. “It’s about me, my mom and my dad playing in New Mexico, and growing up on the road. I also wrote it because I don’t want any of those memories to go away. They put miles on your soul.
“My parents really got burned by the industry,” she continues. “They were dropped when they had a number two record, which sounds crazy to me. It made me realise that the ebb and flow of the business will always be there, but that music still has to be the one priority in life. You have to love it enough to just keep going.”
