(mellow groovy music) (mellow groovy music continues) - [Announcer] Coming up on "Ocean State Sessions."

♪ There's just one step ♪ - Eric Fontana.

♪ Into the light ♪ ♪ Yeah, yeah, one step into the light ♪ ♪ Ooh, with one foot still in the night ♪ - [Announcer] And Polly Bessette.

♪ I know a troubled child when I see one ♪ ♪ I know the bad kid playing on a rerun in my mind ♪ ♪ I know my kind ♪ (sunny guitar music) ♪ You used to tell me there were monsters in the rocks ♪ ♪ When you would take me for our walks out in the parks ♪ ♪ I still remember how I used to stop and play ♪ ♪ Sipping a soda on a park bench to this day ♪ ♪ And I never cry because I see you in the sky ♪ ♪ I look out the window and know you are a happy star ♪ ♪ I look out the window and see the things beyond my eyes ♪ (sunny guitar music) ♪ Children grow older into life's renewed parade ♪ ♪ You left us younger, so much younger than your age ♪ ♪ How can I tell you all the things you left behind ♪ ♪ You surely know it like the sunshine knows the sky ♪ ♪ And I'll see you soon ♪ ♪ Because you're drinking with the moon ♪ ♪ I look out the window and know you are a happy star ♪ ♪ I look out the window and see the things beyond my eyes ♪ (sunny guitar music) (sunny guitar music continues) ♪ And I'll see you soon ♪ ♪ Because you're drinking with the moon ♪ ♪ I look out the window and know you are a happy star ♪ ♪ I look out the window and see the things beyond my eyes ♪ ♪ I look out the window and know you are a happy star ♪ ♪ I look out the window and see the things beyond my eyes ♪ ♪ I know happy star ♪ ♪ I know happy star ♪ ♪ I know happy star ♪ ♪ I know happy star ♪ - [Crowd Members] Yeah!

- Thank you, thank you.

(knuckles rapping) Come in.

(serene guitar music) (serene guitar music continues) ♪ Feel I've been down this road before ♪ ♪ Another place that I have seen ♪ ♪ Inside I'm going nowhere fast ♪ ♪ Feel like nowhere's where I've been ♪ ♪ It's hard to imagine the fate of one ♪ ♪ Who dreamed their life away ♪ ♪ So I'm one step into the light ♪ ♪ Yeah, yeah, one step into the light ♪ ♪ Ooh, with one foot still in the night ♪ ♪ And I'm in between what might have been ♪ ♪ And all that's left to come ♪ ♪ And all them people I have known ♪ ♪ So many faces to recall ♪ ♪ Yes, they all live inside of me ♪ ♪ Do they remember me at all ♪ ♪ Or do they feel the way I feel ♪ ♪ When I don't feel all right ♪ ♪ They're just one step into the light ♪ ♪ Yeah, yeah, one step into the light ♪ ♪ Ooh, with one foot still in the night ♪ ♪ And they're in between what might have been ♪ ♪ And all that's left to come ♪ (Eric vocalizing) (serene guitar music) (Eric continues vocalizing) (guitar music continues) ♪ Well, there seems to be a part of me ♪ ♪ That's never satisfied ♪ ♪ So I'm one step into the light ♪ ♪ Yeah, yeah, one step into the light ♪ ♪ Ooh, with one foot still in the night ♪ ♪ And I'm in between what might have been ♪ ♪ And all that's left to come ♪ - [Crowd Member] Yeah!

- [Eric] Thank you.

(crowd members cheer) Thank you, thank you.

- Eric Fontana.

- Hello.

- Thank you so much for joining us on "Ocean State Sessions" this season.

What an amazing performance.

- Oh, thanks for having me.

It's a great place.

Amazing place.

- So those songs sounded so refined.

Are those old songs, new songs?

Tell me.

- No, I wrote them quite a long time ago, but I just play so much that I've literally played them triple digits, you know, hundreds and hundreds of times, each one.

Musically, the first one, "Happy Star," is definitely Beatle-y, Paul McCartney, "White Album"-ish influenced.

It's a little bit more jazzy, showing off a little bit of my Berkeley College of Music stuff, and then the third one is just straight out gospel, you know.

I love, Otis Redding and Sam Cooke are two of my favorite singers of all times.

I'm a mutt and a chameleon, if you can picture that.

A hybrid.

A hybrid creature.

That's me.

A changeling, if you will, - Your guitar, before we talk about the look, you play a nylon string, but out of an amp.

Can you just tell me a little bit about that sound?

- Yeah, I really got into Willie Nelson's "Red Headed Stranger" album, and I loved the way it sounded, and he plays, of course, a nylon string, a classical guitar or flamenco Spanish guitar, with a pickup with a pick through a regular guitar amp, and I just really liked the sound of that, and that was when I was kind of getting out of bands and veering more toward being a solo performer.

So I liked the sound of it, I could still kind of do finger picking stuff and stuff with the pick as well, but the nylon strings are softer for my fretting hand.

They just feel softer, and I'm not really a strummer, so playing steel string lends itself more, I think more to strumming, where I like to play parts and baselines and melodies and stuff like that, so again, a hybrid, mutt, kind of chameleon changeling, but so that's pretty much where I got that from, though, was the "Red Headed Stranger" album, sonically.

And there's lots of stickers on it, too.

- I was just gonna ask, all those stickers, tell me about that.

- Well, I'm a proud dad of two awesome daughters, Evelina and Cecilia, otherwise known as Evie and Cece.

Hi, girls.

And when they were very little, I went to a dollar store and I got a bunch of stickers, those star stickers you get in school, and I laid my guitar on the floor and was like, "Here, go for it," so they just went full out, and that's my custom job.

- That's great, you get to take a little piece of them with you on the road, right?

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- That's cool.

I think you have a pretty interesting job now.

Can you tell me a little bit about that?

- I do, yeah.

For the last few years or so, I've been working in human services, so I work with adults with disabilities.

I really like the term differently abled.

I think that's a cool way to put it.

So I work for an amazing company called West Bay Rhode Island, which I love.

My coworkers and my team are fantastic, and the people that we support are absolutely amazing.

My job title is Community Navigator, which basically means helping people make connections.

Most of the stuff that I do at work is employment development, job development, job coaching, so I kind of hang my head on the supported employment part, where I get folks- - Ironic.

- Very ironic, because I never had a day job until much later in life, but I had a knack for it, because I never really had an agent or a manager, so I always kind of did everything myself.

- It sounds like between your job now and your music career, community is super important to you and something that you really hang your hat on.

- Very much so, yeah.

The greatest thing, in my opinion, to come of any of it was the amazing people and connections and friends and gigantic extended family that I have, just from playing music.

You know, there's no greater reward.

I mean, as far as I'm concerned, from that angle, I made it.

I absolutely made it.

- Eric, you're such an accomplished musician.

I wanna thank you so much for taking the time to join us on "Ocean State Sessions" this season.

Your music was incredible.

- Thank you.

Thank you very much.

It was an honor and privilege, and I'm very happy to be here.

(wistful guitar music) (wistful guitar music continues) ♪ I know a troubled child when I see one ♪ ♪ I know the bad kid playing on a rerun in my mind ♪ ♪ I know my kind ♪ ♪ I search for love like a moth on cashmere ♪ ♪ I climb the neighbor's tree when they're not there ♪ ♪ And I could fall ♪ ♪ And scare you all ♪ ♪ But when I feel I'm close to heaven ♪ ♪ I make all my mistakes ♪ ♪ If my head's bowed in reflection ♪ ♪ I'm a fool's gold, a fake ♪ ♪ Don't bring me to the God you know ♪ ♪ He doesn't like the grass I pull ♪ ♪ He doesn't even laugh at jokes ♪ ♪ Oh, mama ♪ ♪ I'm all on my own ♪ ♪ Mm-mm, mm-mm ♪ ♪ Mm-mm, mm-mm ♪ ♪ Mm-mm, mm-mm ♪ ♪ I know an angry home when I step in ♪ ♪ I know the hunger hangs like draped skin in the bath ♪ ♪ Toys and wrath ♪ ♪ I search for love like the gnaw on a raw bone ♪ ♪ I let the curtain hide what is unknown in my mind ♪ ♪ Through the finds ♪ ♪ But when I feel I'm close to heaven ♪ ♪ I make all my mistakes ♪ ♪ If my head's bowed in reflection ♪ ♪ I'm a fool's gold, a fake ♪ ♪ Don't bring me to the God you know ♪ ♪ He doesn't heal when I'm alone ♪ ♪ He doesn't know the life I hold ♪ ♪ Oh, mama ♪ ♪ I'm all on my own ♪ ♪ Mm-mm, mm-mm ♪ ♪ Mm-mm, mm-mm ♪ ♪ Mm-mm, mm-mm ♪ ♪ Well, I saw myself ♪ ♪ When I saw a light ♪ ♪ Like floating specks ♪ ♪ Of fireflies ♪ ♪ So when I feel I'm close to heaven ♪ ♪ I make all my mistakes ♪ ♪ If my head's bowed in reflection ♪ ♪ I'm a fool's gold, a fake ♪ ♪ Don't bring me to the God you know ♪ ♪ He doesn't like the grass I pull ♪ ♪ He doesn't even laugh at jokes ♪ ♪ Oh, mama ♪ ♪ I'm all on my own ♪ ♪ Mm-mm, mm-mm ♪ ♪ Mm-mm, mm-mm ♪ ♪ Mm-Mm, mm-mm ♪ (crowd members cheer and applaud) - Thank you.

(melancholy guitar music) (melancholy guitar music continues) ♪ I study the road in case dad is a goner ♪ ♪ He buries his grave in the dumpster nearby ♪ ♪ Where we sleep in his car, the smells decompose ♪ ♪ Like the bodies of ghosts are all wedged ♪ ♪ In the trunk behind me ♪ ♪ He takes his own mother, her ivory corpse ♪ ♪ And he plays with her hair as I map out the places to go ♪ ♪ I'm alone, I know that already ♪ ♪ The only sane baby in decades of family ♪ ♪ We don't travel far, we're like kids on a go-round ♪ ♪ I can't drive for years yet, I've swallowed my hometown ♪ ♪ In case I get stranded, I know what my street's called ♪ ♪ I know where the bus stops to bring me back there ♪ ♪ But now grandma is melting, her eyes are a silver ♪ ♪ I've only seen looking my dad in the face ♪ ♪ When he cries and then strikes me as some kind of mirror ♪ ♪ He looked at his loss ♪ ♪ She imprinted like genes in his eyes ♪ ♪ So I tell him, put her to rest now ♪ ♪ With all of the ghosts in this goddamn pilgrim town ♪ ♪ So I tell him, put her to rest now ♪ ♪ With all of the ghosts in this goddamn pilgrim town ♪ (melancholy guitar music) ♪ I am alone, I know that already ♪ ♪ The only sane baby in decades of family ♪ ♪ I am alone, I know that already ♪ ♪ The only sane baby in decades of family now ♪ ♪ Grandma is melting, her eyes are a silver ♪ ♪ I've only seen looking my dad in the face ♪ ♪ When he cries and then strikes me as some kind of mirror ♪ ♪ He looked at his loss ♪ ♪ She imprinted like genes in his eyes ♪ ♪ So I tell him, put her to rest now ♪ ♪ With all of the ghosts in this goddamn pilgrim town ♪ ♪ So I tell him, put her to rest now ♪ ♪ With all of the ghosts in this goddamn pilgrim town ♪ (melancholy guitar music) ♪ I am alone, I know that already ♪ ♪ The only sane baby in decades of family ♪ ♪ I am alone, I know that already ♪ ♪ The only sane baby in decades of family now ♪ ♪ I am alone, I know that already ♪ ♪ The only sane baby in decades of family ♪ ♪ I am alone, I know that already ♪ ♪ The only sane baby ♪ ♪ In decades of family ♪ (melancholy guitar music) ♪ I am alone, I know that already ♪ ♪ The only sane baby ♪ ♪ In decades of family ♪ (crowd members applaud and cheer) - Hello, Polly.

- Hi.

- That was a great set downstairs.

- Thank you.

- Thought you sounded amazing.

- Thanks so much.

- So do you write a lot of songs, kind of more about personal experiences?

I know some folk music, it tends to tell a lot of stories.

Do you find yourself telling a lot of personal stories, or do you make up some sort of scenarios, or how does that kind of go for you?

- Yeah, I mean, I kind of tell a lot of stories about, you know, my life or my past or my family and their past, and it's all kind of inspired.

I don't write in the form of a memoir, where I'm trying to get down all the facts of my life, but a lot of those stories might inspire me, and, you know, to write something that's more, I guess, relatable for people to consume.

There are sometimes details of my life, but, you know, otherwise I like to keep things kind of broad in a way so other listeners can relate it to themselves.

But then I do write a lot in, I write a lot of folk style music, just because I love folk music, and that's kind of what's inspired me for the past 10 years or so.

And I studied poetry in college, so it's kind of like, poetry and folk music feels like they align so well.

- Do you ever perform with other musicians, or is this kind of something you do solo primarily?

- I sing solo primarily, and, you know, I'm just now getting into collaborating with other people, and not even just playing shows with people necessarily, but just learning about other musicians and their process for writing and creating, because I was just very alone, I did not have musician friends before I started performing, so yeah, I don't know, learning, just kind of meeting people in the community and just seeing how their brains work and everything has been really inspiring for me.

- So I saw you at the Brown Arts Institute Songwriters Workshop, where you're starting to maybe explore playing with a few new people.

Can you tell me a little bit about what that whole process is like?

- Yeah, so I just applied to it, because a friend of mine, she said, "Oh, I'm in this writing workshop, and, you know, it's really chill, like nothing crazy.

We just kind of hang out and share songs, and then we do a showcase at the end."

And I was skeptical at first, 'cause I was like, I don't know if I wanna do do this, because I don't think I have necessarily a lot of skills.

I like writing, but then, you know, when it comes to instruments, that's a weaker point for me, and collaborating, it's hard, 'cause I can really only add, I feel like I can only add vocals to something.

But also, I don't know, it's just kind of a good experience to sit and listen and just see everybody else's creative process, and every single person is different.

There's almost no repetition of genre or style.

Every person in the group has their own style, which is really cool.

- I noticed it was a really tight group, like everyone seemed to have this really great comradery.

Do you think having that really tight-knit group of almost friends at that point makes it easier to kind of be so critical of each other?

- I mean, it's hard for people to take criticism depending on their personality or how serious they take themselves, but I think that a lot of, we all kind of like each other, and we all find, you know, talent within our own skills, so I think that if a friend were to say one thing about my song that was a constructive criticism or something, I wouldn't take it hard, 'cause I would, you know, 'cause I know they respect me as a musician, too.

But I don't know, I think that, a lot of times, people don't tell you what they think of your music.

I think when you go out and you just play, you know, people will think something some type of way, and then they'll tell everyone else except you what they think about your music, so sometimes it's nice to make friends who can be honest.

- Well, Polly, thanks so much for taking the time to sit down and chat and for playing a few songs for us earlier today.

It was fantastic.

- Thank you so much, Dewey.

Thanks for having me.

- [Announcer] For more "Ocean State Sessions," visit ripbs.org, or tune in to The Public's Radio at 89.3 FM.

(mellow groovy music) (mellow groovy music continues) ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ What else can I do ♪ ♪ With you ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ My mind is set on you ♪