LISA BODNAR AND WHISTLEGRASS

The perfect storm of Lisa Bodnar’s musical career came together in the late 1990s and early 2000s locally and in Philadelphia, where she was a featured artist on WXPN . Her debut, Maybe I Did , was released in 2003 to instant acclaim and even charted on college and Triple-A radio. In the mid-2000s, Lisa relocated to the New York area, where she recorded 2007’s glossier Come Hell or High Water . The sophomore set fared even better, garnering four Grammy nominations (Best New Artist; Best Pop Vocal Album; Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical; and Producer of the Year) and winning praise in the music and mainstream press. “Bodnar sings with an undefeated strength of spirit in a voice that soars with hope and passion,” writes Dave Howell of The Morning Call And now, after 12 years of steady gigging that’s included slots with Vapors of Morphine and other top acts, Lisa has reemerged with 40 Years in the Desert , a sparser, rawer affair than either of its predecessors. The album’s title was inspired by a transformative trip to Joshua Tree National Park in California, with stand-out tracks Feeding Time , a haunting, mid-tempo burner, the twangy, country-pop ballad Best That I Can , and I Love You Friend an upbeat, mariachi-flavored gem that captures.