Bonnie Bishop grew up in Texas far from the honky tonks and hay rides of country music in suburban Houston, the daughter of native Texans who raised her on the soulful melodies of Aretha Franklin and the likes of Motown. She trained to be an opera singer throughout high school, but graduated from college with a degree in sociology and a plan to somehow make a living doing music her own way. After meeting up with her long-time guitar player and friend Rob Albertson, she began making her way across the state playing her original tunes for anyone who would listen and anywhere that she was able to get booked. Now with a couple years experience under her belt, a more finely-tuned focus, and a new CD on the horizon, this young singer is poised to make a huge impact on the hearts of music lovers in Texas and beyond. Though having just been in the music scene for a short time, already Bonnie has shared bills with many established artists such as Radney Foster, Kevin Fowler, Bruce Robison, and Lyle Lovett, and currently plays numerous well-known venues and festivals including Robert Earl Keen's 4th of July Uprising, Larry Joe Taylor's Annual Festival, the Gypsy Tea Room in Dallas, and Austin's legendary Saxon Pub. While hard work and rich blessing have largely paved the road for her accomplishments thus far, it is the music itself and the dynamics of a very talented and loyal band that have earned Bonnie a place of respect in the music community. Called an "exciting and energetic group to watch" by the Bryan Eagle, Bonnie's band consists of six players, including electric and acoustic guitars, mandolin, violin, and three part harmonies, and ranges in style from bluesy rock to Americana and country. The music reflects the versatility of its lead singer's songwriting and expansive vocal range, which makes it unique to the Texas music scene and appealing to a wide demographic of listeners. In a recent review, long time radio owner Ronnie Whitcher wrote that Bonnie "has one of those voices that seems to go wherever she wants to take it, and she takes it from a sweet whisper to rafter-shaking force at times...." In addition to her full band shows, Bonnie and co-writer Albertson also play acoustically in listening rooms statewide, which is rewarding because it allows them to be more personal with the audience and show off not only the power of Bonnie's voice but the intimacy of it as well. In 2003 Bonnie's first single "Send Me a Cowboy" released to country radio statewide and met with moderate success, reaching the top ten on both the Texas Music Chart as well as the Progressive Music Chart. Proving to be a dynamic and hard-working young businesswoman, Bonnie says she drove over 30,000 miles visiting radio stations alone to personally promote her music and to better understand Texas radio and its fans. Now with the August 31 release of her first full-length album entitled Long Way Home, Bonnie plans to win over a new radio audience with the same old-fashioned, door-to-door marketing she relied on before. With the new CD, she has expanded her focus to include Americana and college radio in addition to the country stations that have showed her support thus far, as the album is a very diverse collection of original music and appeals to several different genres. Already the new single "Sweet on the Down Low" is receiving airplay in nearly every market across the state and just recently began climbing the Texas Music Chart after just two weeks in rotation. One of the things that grabs people about the CD is the intimacy of Bonnie's songwriting, nearly all of which comes from personal experience. "Bonnie's music is straight from the heart," said Pam Shane of Shane Media about the new album, "it's for music lovers." It is from this audience that Bonnie hopes to win fans and earn the kind of loyalty that builds long-term musical success like that of Emmylou Harris and Lyle Lovett and would enable her to continue to grow in her uniqueness as a singer/songwriter.