Get an Earful

Online: Go to the website, www.aaronbearmusic.com to preview songs from the EP, which was released this year.

In-person: Sundown Sessions at the Sundown Lounge off Depot Street in Bridgton on this Friday, Aug. 30, Sept. 6 and Sept. 13. Stella’s on the Square on Sept. 14, Sept. 21 and Oct. 5. The Bridgton Farmer’s Market on Oct. 5.

By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

Collaboration plays a key piece in Aaron Bear’s musical growth.

“Musical collaboration has meant inspiring others and receiving inspiration from others to create a flywheel effect of inspiration,” Bear said.

In August, Bridgton resident Bear and the artist DKNTL released a three-song EP entitled Grateful Good Times.

“The name is Grateful Good Times, which comes from the three song titles: ‘Grateful Forgiveness,’ ‘Something Good’ and ‘These Times,’” Bear said.

“The journey of creating the songs actually started in the Boston music scene, where I met a guy named Christian who goes by the artist name DKNTL. After playing shows together on our own bills, we decided to play a show together. We rehearsed back and forth between Boston and Bridgton. He came up and played Denmark Arts Center with me,” Bear said.

“From that — because he had practiced the songs — he was really excited about them. He was encouraging me to record the songs. He wanted to be the producer on the project,” he said.

“The way it worked out was a split artist release, which means I wrote the songs and he brought the vision of how to bring the songs to life in the studio. Technically, I wrote the chord progressions and the lyrics and most of the melodies. He helped make creative decisions such as which instruments to use. He gave me feedback on the way I should sing things,” he explained

Originally from Pennsylvania, Bear has a long-standing relationship with Maine and has moved to the state three times in his adult life.

“I think my sound is a New England sound — people living here respond to it,” he said. 

Bear’s music falls into the genre of folk. Since 2019, he has recorded six singles that also can be found on the website, www.aaronbearmusic.com.

He shared the backstory behind his most recent creation, Grateful Good Times.

“The first track, These Times, is a song for now, whatever now is,” he said. “It is in the spirit of cyclical nature of things. Once you start hitting spring and summer, things start to amplify. Everyone starts waking up and coming out in New England,” Bear said.

“The second track, Something Good, was written when I was pursuing carpentry as a full-time trade. I had never done carpentry until I was in my 20s when I decided I wanted to figure out how to build a house. That led me to an apprenticeship with a famous carpenter Dennis Carter,” he said.

Carter built the Deer Isle Hostel.

“I got the opportunity to apprentice with him for seven months. I wrote Something Good in one day after four or five days of the best carpentry days of my life. Here I am living in an off-grid old colonial style farmhouse. We are building a hut with traditional tools like draw knives and hand planes,” he said.

“It is a metaphor for building a home within you. Also, literally, I am building a hut in the woods. It is also about Andrea [Bear’s fiancé] and our relationship and building our home,” he said.

“There is one line I really love, ‘Watch me turn nothing into gold.’ We took a pile of scrap wood and turned it into this beautiful hut,” he said.

The last song falls into the category of religious, he said.

“The third track, Grateful Forgiveness, is a song to the creator. It says thank you for guiding me home and guiding me to the divinity within myself. It is also about forgiving all the stuff we do that hurts ourselves or hurts others. It’s about finding forgiveness. Inherently, we are flawed. Inherently, we make mistakes,” he said.

“I have found gratitude is the way through negative emotions,” he concluded.