B-Side Guys

A solitary question – “What would it be like if you were on the outside looking in?” – sparked Laura Baron’s title track, transforming an intimate conversation into a meditation on healing through connection. The DC-area songwriter, known for her genre-spanning versatility, crafts a folk narrative that finds hope in life’s fractures.

Producer Marco Delmar places Baron’s warm vocals and intricate guitar work at the center of the mix, allowing the song’s emotional authenticity to radiate outward. The arrangement demonstrates remarkable restraint, each additional element serving the story rather than overwhelming it.

Baron’s lyrics paint vivid imagery through carefully chosen metaphors. When she sings “There’s a shattered jewel still glistening / When I have lost my way,” she transforms brokenness into brilliance. This central metaphor gains power through its simplicity, avoiding overwrought poetics in favor of direct emotional truth.

The chorus – “There’s beauty in the broken / When gentle words are spoken” – serves as both thematic anchor and emotional release. Baron’s delivery here showcases her jazz background without losing the folk intimacy that grounds the piece, her voice finding new colors in each repetition.

Drawing from decades of performance experience across multiple genres, Baron brings a mature artist’s perspective to lines like “We’re all torn and hurting / that’s how the light gets in.” The sentiment could easily veer into cliché, but her delivery carries the weight of lived experience.

The bridge section (“Falling, feel my heart is breaking”) creates a moment of suspended vulnerability before resolution. This structural choice mirrors the song’s thematic exploration of transformation through acceptance, demonstrating Baron’s sophisticated approach to songcraft.

As the concluding track of her latest album, “Beauty In The Broken” serves as both summation and invitation. The final verses, with images of silver tides and wild surf, suggest renewal without promising easy answers. Baron’s evolution from children’s music to jazz to contemporary folk allows her to handle complex emotional material with remarkable grace.

Having performed everywhere from Bethesda Blues and Jazz Club to The Hamilton, Baron brings that stage-tested authenticity to the studio. The result is a song that feels both carefully crafted and emotionally immediate, suggesting an artist who’s found her truest voice by embracing imperfection.