The JBE website/blog was launched in 2012 when Baumer was fully immersed in his writing and publishing endeavors. If writing had been his avocation, playing music has come along beside it and taken center stage.
This blog post is a good point of reference explaining how a guy who owned a guitar for nearly 25 years and was a very part-time player—found salvation in an instrument that had been neglected far too often in his life. You can access my digital footprint at linktr.ee.
During the summer of 2020 (aka, the Summer of COVID), Baumer began playing open mics. His goal became one of getting out and playing live onstage weekly whenever possible. Playing live pushed his performance skills forward.
Rocking Thompson’s Orchard in New Gloucester, ME (fall 2021)
For the past two years, Baumer’s written 16 20 25 30+ songs. Many of them live in that space framed by grief and loss following the death of his only son, Mark Baumer. Baumer channeled the skills of a writer and located a capacity for crafting lyrics. But perhaps even more empowering (one might add, “healing”) is that he’s also been able to locate melodies and pulls all of this together in his songcraft.
Baumer initially opted to call his site the Jim Baumer Experience. Originally, it was a cheeky nod to music and band names. All performers require a moniker. While the JBE might have worked as a third-person descriptor with people familiar with his writing and community-based work, Baumer felt that his music deserved something separate from those things.
A performer he’s followed across his career since the 1990s goes by the name Matt Pond. For a long time, his various incarnations lived under the moniker, Matt Pond PA. Baumer’s taken that concept and built upon it and became, JimBaumerMe.
Solo acoustic at the Fryeburg Fair (2021)
Last February, local music writer, Aimsel Ponti, included Baumer in her Face the Music round-up of local musical talent with new releases. She liked “All You Stupid Sheep” and had this to say about it:
With some fuzzy guitar, some grungy, lo-fi sensibility and leaving-it-all-on-the-field lyrics, Baumer makes his mark with songs like “Living in this World,” The Pain of Life,” and one that takes aim at former President Trump called “National Disgrace.”
Music journalists like longtime regional writer, Chris Hislop, continue detailing Baumer’s musical journey out from loss, framed by guitars and music. Here is the June feature he wrote for Seacoastonline at their arts and entertainment portal, Edge. He compares Baumer’s lo-fi rock to Robert Pollard and Guided by Voices.
With more than 85 performances under his belt since April 2021, he’s honed his performing chops and is always available to rock new venues, whether as a solo acoustic act, or as a one-man-band, playing a raucous three-hour electric set: just him, his electric guitars and a BeatBuddy—a foot pedal/stomp box drum machine.
Baumer has landed several dates in Boston, playing at a number of clubs known for indie music, like the historic Midway Cafe in Jamaica Plain. Here he is playing one of his own songs, “Living in This World.”
In April of 2022, he released his first LP, Living in Some Strange Days. Several tracks from that release have found airplay on college radio, including WMBR’s Pipeline show highlighting the best in New England indie music.
In February 2023, I released my second full-length, Home Sweet Home, about moving to a new part of the country, the Blue Ridge Mountain region of Central Virginia. This was also done during the RPM Challenge, my first go-round with releasing a new record during the month of February.
My latest single, “Prophet of Profit, addresses the sudden rise of Oliver Anthony, who also happens to be from Virginia, not too far away from me. The song has been getting regular spins on Amazing Radio USA’s indie stream.
Follow me on Bandcamp to stay current on new releases.