For Manhattanites, “bridge and tunnel” is a term of superiority if not annoyance, directed at the millions who come in from the ‘burbs or the outer boroughs every day to work, play, eat, or see a show. For those suburbanites, however, the gateways to the big city – particularly when they’re jammed with traffic – symbolize their position on the outside looking in, a gauntlet to be run in order to get Where the Action Is (or to get away from it).

Singer/songwriter (and onetime Manhattanite) Linda Draper now lives in not-so-glamorous Woodside, Queens, but she titled her new album Bridge and Tunnel as a matter of metaphor more than fact. In the song of the same name, they represent light and darkness – two possible options for a girl struggling to figure out her next move. As an allegory for her own career, “bridge and tunnel” represent Draper’s own options – to continue the struggle for commercial success as a recording artist, or to pursue a livelihood with less glamour but better odds.

So far, she’s chosen both. Even as she released Bridge and Tunnel this month – it’s her sixth album overall, and her third on Virginia Beach-based Planting Seeds Records – she’s finishing up a long-delayed degree in Music Therapy at Molloy College on Long Island. Indeed, the new album’s release was timed to give it a few weeks to build awareness while she prepares to graduate next month, at which point she’ll set out for a few weeks of touring before returning home to begin job-hunting … and to get married in August.

Draper’s new songs speak to everything that’s going on in her life — sometimes abstractly, as on “Bridge and Tunnel,” and sometimes with a more straightforward voice, as on the hopeful “Sharks and Royalty.” In a recent interview, however, she spoke with clear-eyed realism about her prospects both personal and professional – which is to say, she’s keeping expectations for the new album in check. (more…)