Denver — Swallow Hill is pleased to welcome back Karla Bonoff, the "queen of the lovelorn ballad," known for her brilliant songwriting, the band Bryndle, and her collaborations with greats such as Linda Ronstadt and Wynonna Judd.

Born and raised in Southern California, Karla Bonoff was a songwriter by the age of 15. She continued her passion on the path of music as a young woman, spending time at the legendary Troubadour in the '60s, which led to the establishment of her first band, Bryndle. Bryndle’s lineup consisted of Kenny Edwards (who had started the Stone Poneys with Linda Ronstadt and Bobby Kimmel), Wendy Waldman, and Andrew Gold. Bryndle broke up, but it launched four very illustrious careers. Kenny and Andrew joined Linda Ronstadt's band, and through that connection, Ronstadt was to hear a demo Bonoff had cut. It led to three of her songs being recorded by Ronstadt on her Hasten Down the Wind album (1976): "Someone to Lay Down Beside Me," "If He's Ever Near" and "Lose Again."

In 1977, Bonoff was signed as a solo artist with Columbia Records. She went from there to coveted spots on major tours, opening for James Taylor and Jackson Browne, and earning a rave review in Time magazine. Two subsequent albums, Restless Nights (1979) and Wild Heart of the Young (1982), established Bonoff as one of L.A.'s major artists and songwriters. Shortly after her fourth album was released, New World (1988), she began to tour in Japan, where audiences fell in love with her, and where she became a very successful artist, even to this day. Along with J.D. Souther, she wrote songs for the major motion picture, About Last Night, and her voice is the one you hear on the Tom Snow/Dean Pitchford song from Footloose called "Somebody’s Eyes."

In 1994, she had a top-ten AC hit single with a song from the film, 8 Seconds, called "Standing Right Next to Me." The '90s proved to be a time in which her career came full circle. She wrote three songs that wound up on Linda Ronstadt’s album, Cry Like a Rainstorm, Howl Like the Wind, one of which was, "All My Life," a duet with Aaron Neville, which won the Grammy for Best Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group. In 1993, her song, "Tell Me Why," performed by the legendary Wynonna Judd (with Bonoff on acoustic guitar and Bryndle members singing backup vocals), was the title song to Judd's second album, and a tremendous hit. Through all this, her sound had reached an even bigger country music audience, and she and her former Bryndle partners decided to get back together. In the fall of 1995, after four years of hard work, the first Bryndle album was released in the United States and Japan. The band toured Japan in the summer and then began to tour the United States. Bonoff fans flocked to the shows and Bryndle continued on, performing into the summer of 1997.

In 1999, Sony/CBS Legacy released All My Life - The Best of Karla Bonoff, a 16-song fully remastered collection spanning Bonoff’s entire career. Bryndle had stopped performing live, but there was so much enthusiasm for the project that in 2002, the second collection of songs from the group, House of Silence, was independently released. In November of that year, they played their first show together under the Bryndle banner in more than four years.

Throughout the years, Bonoff has continued to do what she does best. She’s toured with Bonnie Raitt, John Prine, J.D. Souther, and others, building up a passionate audience, resulting in sold-out houses everywhere. Her legacy as a performer and writer was summed up in a review of her All My Life recording in Billboard Magazine: "Long before Alanis and Jewel, there was a breed of singer/songwriters whose earthly anthems of soul-searching, heartache and joy touched souls in a way few can muster today."

For tickets visit www.swallowhillmusic.org or call (303) 777-1003. Discounts are available for Swallow Hill members.

About Swallow Hill Music Association:
Helping people make music since 1979 years, Swallow Hill Music Association is one of the largest institutions of its kind in the United States as a source for folk, roots and acoustic music. With more than 2,100 members—some of whom are also volunteers—Swallow Hill provides a place to celebrate music that is rarely heard elsewhere in the Rocky Mountain Region. Three concert venues house more than 150 performances a year, featuring some of the world's great artists as well as up-and-coming new talent. The Julie Davis Music School at Swallow Hill provides a valuable and affordable extra-curricular educational resource to the community with more than 50 music instructors involved in more than 240 adult classes and 70 children's classes annually.

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