bio
Bonar was born near Winnipeg, raised in the Black Hills of South Dakota, and cut her teeth on the winters of Duluth, Minnesota. She presently calls St. Paul her home.
Her first album, Haley Bryn Bonar, was recorded when she was seventeen. It bore the signature of someone who was punk, but not really punk rock—she owned an acoustic guitar and created folk songs of her own style, yet liberally innocent of the concept of "anti-folk.” Her follow-up release, The Size of Planets, landed her on the radar. It was released on Low's Chairkicker's Union label, and inspired by the greats: Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, and Loretta Lynn. Voted one of the best albums of 2003 by the Minneapolis Star Tribune, it received rave reviews from the likes of the Philadelphia City Paper, Minneapolis City Pages, Chicago Sun Times, Pulse Magazine, and Alternative Press.
At twenty-one, she self-released Lure the Fox, a gritty, lovely, and haunted album. It struck a fierce chord with old and new fans and earned the Best American Roots Recording in the 2006 Minnesota Music Awards, where she also received recognition as Best American Roots Artist. Minneapolis City Pages gave her the distinction of Artist of the Year, and the Star Tribune and Pulse placed the album on year end top ten lists. Lure the Fox was then picked up for re-release and national distribution by Minneapolis-based Afternoon Records. Meanwhile, she kept busy with other projects—she sang a song for the closing credits for the film "Sweet Land", toured with Andrew Bird, and contributed vocals to Bird's 2007 album Armchair Apocrypha.
Which brings us to 2008 and the completion of Bonar's new and most accomplished collection of songs, Big Star, an album loosely themed around the struggle of wanting something that elicits both dislike and desire—whether it be fame, success, or love. The album was recorded at the Terrarium in Minneapolis and mixed by noted engineer Tchad Blake (Tom Waits, The Bad Plus, Elvis Costello, Pearl Jam) who brings all of the subtle textures of the recordings to life. Haley played guitars, melotron and keyboards, and was joined by Chris Morrissey (Ben Kweller) on bass, Dave King (The Bad Plus) on drums, Bill Mike on electric guitar, and Luke Anderson on additional drums. The album will be released June 10, 2008.
Bonar has toured with Andrew Bird, Mason Jennings, Mary Lou Lord, Richard Buckner, and Charlie Parr—domestically and internationally—as well as shared stages with Neko Case, Pedro the Lion, the Arcade Fire, and Wanda Jackson.
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From Minneapolis City Pages' ARTIST OF THE YEAR 2006Haley Bonar on the fine art of disappearing-and coming back in one pieceBY ALI SELIM, writer-director of Sweet Land.There is a myth about Haley Bonar: A couple of years ago, she felt too much of the wrong career coming at her too quickly, so she walked offstage and went away to find herself, to be true to her music and be known by a smaller, more manageable audience.
I am a member of the unmanageable audience. I had this idea that she should sing the theme song for my film Sweet Land (which she ultimately did!), but I didn't know how to find her. One day I was walking out of the post office on University and she was walking in. Excitedly, I blocked her way and asked, "Are you Haley Bonar?" She looked at me for a long time-worried, I imagine, that this crazed fan wouldn't let her pass-and then she finally said, "Maybe."
Haley Bonar is about to be known by everyone. This year she released her third album, Lure the Fox. Though, at 21, Haley is barely out of her teens, this album's maturity is proof that she can hold her own among the crowded and accomplished world of singer-songwriters. Her voice is an invitation to amazing places. Whether she whispers or rocks, you follow her. And yet, with her quiet insouciance, she is a somewhat reluctant, withdrawn host; she'll travel with or without you because it's her journey and she's going now. Her lyrics are often so beautifully poetic that it takes me a while to catch up. "The sun is wearing out your eyes/They look across the land/But they can't tell sea from sand/Now who will hold your hand?/And who will rub your back?/Your chains run deep/Your chains run deep."
Haley's music is a gateway to understanding the world around us and the world within us. Her songs reveal stories and philosophies that are very personal to her (or else she couldn't have written them), but somehow they speak to us. Only a true and complete artist has that ability.
John Cassavetes said that if you create it specifically, it will be understood and appreciated universally. Listen closely to the singer's universality. She is definitely Haley Bonar, no maybe about it.
