Lo and behold, the qualities that Minnesotan Haley Bonar brings so calmly into her songs are the ones she’s sharpening at all hours of her days. Some people baby their songs and give them too much, or spoil them with accessories, the extras that cause the suffocated coughing that the draft of an overly perfumed woman brings. They become trapped in their own garments, swimming in the sizes that are too big for inhaling and exhaling and it passes on the claustrophobia. It’s not to say that there aren’t some acoustic songwriters, who even with a sole guitar and voice, couldn’t stand for a little more extravagance. Bonar mothers her songs. She doesn’t baby. She raises them – teaches them how to crawl and then how to walk and fix themselves their own meals. On Lure the Fox, her latest, there’s a shuffling, knee-burning crawl to the first three tunes – beautiful in their beginning steps – and then “Daisy Girls” shows the first sign of mobility that makes you think of the care that went into the process. These songs have their mother’s red hair – the passion and the vulnerability that go with that. Then we learn that Bonar cares for a set of 4-month-old twins sometimes and they enjoy listening to her sing her songs. Yes, makes sense. She’s also a barista and her talents in combining and working with hot liquids is appropriate here as well. Songs such as “Give It Up” and “Devilish Man” feel like natural, hot springs jetting from the ground in a loping, lazy stream. They steam and scald, but have a thickness like the foam on a latte. There’s a lot of the same kind of artistic pain on Lure The Fox that Aimee Mann based Bachelor No. 2 around. Bonar can be heard on a handful of songs on Andrew Bird’s sparkling new disc Armchair Apocrypha. Those twins have a good talent buyer.
FIVE paragraphs on five things by Haley Bonar:

Aside from being a part time barista extraordinaire and musician, I also nanny for a couple of different families. One of the families belongs to my guitar repair guy. He has 4-month-old twins. They are beautiful, beautiful, beautiful and very well-behaved. And they enjoy it when I sing songs to them.

I started reading two books last week, and one of them is a history book called The Wives of Henry the Eighth. So far it’s very interesting, and I’m really liking reading up on the history of real princesses and queens and palaces along with the scandals that survive with their history. The other book is one my dad sent me for Valentine’s Day with quotes and anecdotes by Fred Rogers of Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood. He was a very spiritually heavy guy and encouraged patience, something I need more of at times.

Surviving the midwinter in Minnesota sometimes requires a random road trip, so I packed my overnight bag and headed up north to my old haunts in Duluth. Although it was a very short trip, I got to hang out with some friends, and stayed at my friend and hairdresser Adeline’s house, where she gave me a free haircut and we played music. I miss the lake and trees.

Another thing I have been doing lately to keep busy and out of the cold is making my own T-shirts to sell at shows. I use patterned material and fabric glue, nothing fancy, and just cut out shapes and letters to create images that go along with my music. I’m only making one of a kind. I hope someday I will see somebody wearing one of them!

My sister had her birthday last week, so we decided to get really dressed up and go out for sushi… I usually never eat the raw fish, only stick to shrimp or soft-shell crab, but this time I tried a Philly roll with smoked raw salmon — and I actually liked it! We also ate inari (my favorite, honey-flavored fried tofu and rice), spider rolls, and drank hot saki.

Haley Bonar’s tour dates
April 10th — Columbus, OH The Basement April 17th -- Duluth, MN UMD Bullpub
April 21st — Minneapolis, MN Varsity Theater April 22nd -- Morris, MN University of Minnesota Morris
May 10th — Austin, TX Progress Coffee May 11th -- Dallas, TX The Cavern
May 12th — Oklahoma City, OK The Conservatory May 31st -- Minneapolis, MN Varsity Theater

Haley Bonar Official Site
Afternoon Records