ALYSSA BONAGURA

A songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist, she’s spent the past decade fine-tuning a sound that reaches far beyond her Nashville roots. It’s a sound that blurs the boundaries between genres, mixing the southern storytelling of country music, the free-thinking spirit of rock & roll, and the cinematic sweep of Brit-pop into its own hybrid.

For Alyssa — a lifelong road warrior who spent her infancy aboard a tour bus, recorded a duet with Kenny Rogers at 10 years old, received her college diploma from Sir Paul McCartney, and currently balances her critically-acclaimed solo career with an ongoing gig writing songs for Jessie James Decker, Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler, and others — it’s also a sound that’s every bit as diverse as her own story.

Back home in Nashville, she bonded with her father over a shared love of music production and songwriting. Together, they converted the family attic into a home studio, where Alyssa began layering her vocals with a mini-disc recorder. By 16, she was recording her own songs, making sense of the outside world by turning her trials and triumphs into music. She landed her first national tour that same year, opening 50 shows for fellow genre-bender Marty Stuart, and became a go-to session singer for artists like Matt Maher and Vince Gill.

Watch her latest video ‘NEW WINGS’ – HERE

With New Wings, an album created during the pandemic. When the global health crisis brought her gypsy lifestyle to a halt, she found new ways to chart unexplored territory without leaving her home studio. Using Zoom, she worked with producer friends Davis Naish (Eric Church), Tom Jordan (Seaforth), and Tawgs Salter during a series of virtual collaborations, steadily building a record about transformation and transition.

Following advice given to her by Coldplay’s Chris Martin, she also embraced a rule-breaking, genre-jumping sound that made room for country, folk, R&B, and everywhere in between. On a record filled with sparkling sonics and the occasional high-powered guest appearance, though, it’s Alyssa Bonagura who shines the brightest, delivering songs rooted in struggle, survival, and the soaring feeling of flight.