Beth Bombara (Matinee Show)

Join us for an afternoon of music with celebrated songwriter, Beth Bombara. Hailing from St. Louis, MO, Beth’s music lives at the four corners of folk, rock, blues, and country. Effortlessly floating between genres, it’s ultimately her songs and voice that have captivated audiences and earned her a loyal following.

It’s not that it’s retro, really, but there is something of a different era about her music – it has an earnestness to it, an organic depth that feels natural and easy. The Columbia Tribune notes, “Her songs live in the same world as greats like Petty and Dylan; Gillian and Joni, and grow up like trees drawing nourishment from their roots. But she never, ever sounds like the “typical” artist who claims these influences; Bombara to zig where someone else might zag, making harder or gentler turns, brushing up against jazz or taking rock toward its fulfillment.”

Bombara spent years on the road in other bands before encouragement from peers led her to start writing and performing her own music. “I never set out to be a lead singer,” she admits. “I wasn’t comfortable being in the spotlight like that. I struggled with anxiety and talking into a microphone just froze me up.” Yet the songs were there. So Bombara slowly started performing her own material, watering the seeds that would grow into her own flourishing career. After releasing her first album, she was invited to perform in front of 10,000 people at the Missouri Botanical Gardens Whitaker Music Festival, and that was a breakthrough moment for her as a performer. “I figured, if I can do that, I can do anything.”