For those unaware, for fans of Wilco, War on Drugs and Tom Petty, the perfect storm of Lisa Bodnar’s musical career came together in the late 1990s and early 2000s locally and in Philadelphia, where she was a featured artist on WXPN.

Her debut, Maybe I Did, was released in 2003 to instant acclaim and even charted on college and Triple-A radio. In the mid-2000s, Lisa relocated to the New York area, where she recorded 2007’s glossier Come Hell or High Water.

The sophomore set fared even better, garnering four Grammy nominations (Best New Artist; Best Pop Vocal Album; Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical; and Producer of the Year) and winning praise in the music and mainstream press. “Bodnar sings with an undefeated strength of spirit in a voice that soars with hope and passion,” writes Dave Howell of The Morning Call.

And now, after 12 years of steady gigging that’s included slots with Vapors of Morphine and other top acts, Lisa has reemerged with 40 Years in the Desert, a sparser, rawer affair than either of its predecessors.

The album’s title was inspired by a transformative trip to Joshua Tree National Park in California, and Lisa is scheduled for a 60+ date tour starting in the fall and will stretch that into 2023 covering all counties in her home state of Pennsylvania.

1. Clear Skies
2. Best That I Can
3. Feeding Time
4. A Little Less
5. A Million Pieces
6. The Truth Comes Out to Play
7. Revive My Heart
8. She Kneels
9. I Love You, Friend (Duet with Steve Brosky)
10. You Never Know
11. Slip Away

This achingly sumptuous new album opens on the languishing, mid-tempo balladry within Clear Skies and the melodic hop-skip of Best That I Can and those are followed by a haunting, mid-tempo burner Feeding Time and then we get the pleasingly sculptured duo of A Little Less and A Million Pieces.

Up next is the rhythmically harmonious The Truth Comes Out to Play and the guitar-led, soft alt-rock vibe of Revive My Heart, and they are in turn backed by the infectious foot-tapper She Kneels, the upbeat, mariachi-flavored gem I Love You, Friend (a duet with Steve Brosky), the album rounding out on the summer’s drive, windows down breeze of You Never Know, closing on the romantically dulcet Slip Away.

Lisa Bodnar and Whistlegrass - Best That I Can (Official Music Video)

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