GALWAY, N.Y. — A local singer-songwriter’s internationally recognized career has reached new heights following her selection as a finalist in the 2018 Great American Song Contest.

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Bonnie Logan’s, “All That Might Have Been,” was one of nine works chosen from among more than 2,000 entries from 44 countries in the Adult Contemporary category.

“I consider writing music a little miracle, it’s magic,” the Galway resident said. “I write the lyrics first, then the music.”

Logan wrote the poignant first verse of “All That Might Have Been” during a layover at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago.

It says: “It’s different, now, I don’t know how. The light’s gone from the room. Your empty chair seems lonely there, touched only by the gloom.”

“I found that it wrote itself,” Logan said. “Essentially it’s about early death. To this day I consider it the best lyric I’ve ever written.”

 

Contest judges obviously agreed in their evaluation as they said: “This song is exceptional on so many levels. The melancholy premise is deeply felt and engagingly communicated. The personifying title/hook is original and memorable. Melodic structure fits perfectly the emotional tone of the song. It’s a pleasure to hear this impressive quality of songwriting. Great job - beautiful song!”

“Keep writing and pressing on with your muse,” they said.

 

Encouraged by her latest, but by no means newfound success, that’s exactly what Logan plans to keep doing.

Logan said she’s been greatly inspired by psychologist-author Francine Toder’s 2013 book, “The Vintage Years: Finding Your Inner Artist (Writer, Musician, Visual Artist) After Sixty.” Toder says that beginning around age 60, the external demands of life slow enough to make more time and space available for new learning and personal exploration that wasn’t possible before. She says it’s then that people search for something fresh, a new direction or challenge and that visual arts, writing, or music afford the perfect outlet.

 

However, Logan has been performing her entire life, starting as a 3-year-old, singing duets with her older sister for family and friends. She discovered early on that she had a natural ability for creating harmonies with her rich, strong alto voice.

So Logan’s passion for music isn’t new. She simply wants to develop it to its full potential.

 

Her work has already been widely acclaimed. For example, her haunting ballad “Pale Moon on the Rise” was recorded by Chinese pop star Priscilla Chan, under the PolyGram/Universal label. The CD the song was on moved to number on the charts in China and throughout Southeast Asia. Today, “Pale Moon on the Rise” is a standard in that part of the world

“All That Might Have Been” is the featured song on a CD of the same name, which includes all of Logan’s best work.

She actually wrote the song in 1995, but it keeps gaining new honors as evidenced by its selection as a Great American Song Contest finalist.

Previously, it was featured in the heart-wrenching PBS/Frontline documentary “Faith and Doubt at Ground Zero,” which aired to high praise, multiple times, both in the U.S. and abroad. Unexpectedly, she later heard it performed on a Siena College radio station Celtic music program.

“The song seemed to find its way out there,” Logan said. “It’s taken on a little life of its own.”

Logan has performed at numerous venues from New York City to the Capital Region and throughout upstate New York.

However, she also spent considerable time in California, which greatly influenced her music that runs the gamut including from pop, jazz, country and spiritually-oriented compositions, as well as children’s songs. Most recently, she’s focused on major social themes and global issues.

 

Her 2016 song, “Won't Someone Shine a Light?” is part of a YouTube video produced with a goal of bringing attention to the hypocrisies and injustices that she believes undermine the defining foundations and fabric of life in the U.S.

Logan collaborated on the project with videographer-editor-producer Veronica Stephens of Saratoga Springs.

Recently, she completed another YouTube video, featuring her song “Requiem for the Unloved,” which highlights the tragedies and injustices that the poor and the powerless endure because of indifference and outright cruelty inflicted by the privileged and elite.

“The song is a clarion call for compassion for the most vulnerable among us,” Logan said.

In addition to her love of music, Logan has a marketing background and previously worked in business.

But unlike many people who simply want to relax in retirement, songwriting is deep within her soul, something she’ll never stop doing.

“A while ago, someone asked me what I would do if I had to choose between singing and songwriting,” Logan said. “For me, singing is interpretive; it’s about taste and style and showmanship. Songwriting? That’s a much bigger deal. That’s about my essence, the core of my being; it’s about revealing who I am and what I stand for.

"The risks are greater and the stakes are higher. One is temporal; the other’s for keeps.”

The latest recognition for “All That Might Have Been” might open exciting new doors she never thought possible.

“I don’t know if anything will happen,” Logan said. “A lot has already happened that I didn’t expect.”