Truro venture capitalist spends weekends on a second career as musician

Truro’s Robert "Bob" Davoli is continuing a string of busy years with a new album "NowhereNear," released Sept. 8.

In 2021, at the age of 72, Davoli made his music debut with his album "Wistfully Yours." Since then, thesinger and guitarist has released two more variations of that record, a John Prine tribute album ― "HelloOut There" ― plus an additional collection of original songs entitled "Still Sitting Backstage."

In the short time that Davoli has been creating and releasing music, he has placed as a finalist and semi-finalist in numerous songwriting competitions across the country. He was also awarded Song of the Week by the John Lennon Songwriting Contest in 2021 for “Transistor Radio and Me.”

“I think I get nourishment, that’s what I’m feeling as I progress here,” Davoli said. “The poetry ― thethinking about it and writing about it ― is a kind of nourishment. It’s a kind of soul food.”

Diving into a new world

When Davoli jumped into the music world, he did so as someone with a decades-long track record of being a successful venture capitalist. He is the founder of Gutbrain Ventures, currently works as a director on 22 company boards, and is involved with 62 different investments.

Davoli, who has been on Forbes’ Midas List five times for best dealmakers in high-tech, started out as an entrepreneur and co-founded SQL Solutions, a software and services upstart, in 1985. He sold SQL in 1990 to Sybase and it went public soon after, growing to a worth of $4 billion. He was also CEO of Epoch Systems Inc., which was sold to EMC in 1993 for $140 million.

But for Davoli, something was missing: a form of self-expression you can’t practice in a business setting.

“You do it because you need to do it,” Davoli said about writing and performing. “Without it, I would feellike something was missing, like part of my heart and part of my soul were missing.”

Davoli wrote his first song at the age of 58.

'Nowhere Near'

On "Nowhere Near," Davoli continues the poignant and heartfelt folk-inspired music he started with "Wistfully Yours."

Themes of loneliness, regret and aging are prevalent as Davoli, with his fragile voice and acoustic guitar, navigates the many tough roads these topics lead him to.

“Well, I guess I continue to be a hopeless romantic,” Davoli joked. “I think themes evolve and sometimesyou deepen the themes just through natural development. You keep on writing a lot of songs (and) the themesbecome maybe a little bit more abstract, a little bit more universal.”

Davoli cites the song “Wind and Water” on the new album as an example of his songwriting progression.

“These are feelings that most people have. It’s the human condition. How do you deal with the humancondition?”

Recorded at Wellspring Sound Studio in Acton, "Nowhere Near" features a group of musicians and singers backing Davoli, including singer Gabriela Martina for a duet on a cover of Donovan’s “Catch the Wind” and Kathleen Parks for a cover of Steve Glover’s “Tarnished Dreams.” Davoli’s “Twilight Lady” is another standout, as he sings “My poetry of loneliness/Searching for a rhyme/But running out of time.”

Despite the heavy subject matter, Davoli says there’s a silver lining on "Nowhere Near" and a renewed sense of optimism.

“There’s a lot of hope in the lyrics of this album that (are) celebrating life,” he said. “Mortality is something weall deal with, but you don’t want to lose hope, so you turn to poetry, or music and songwriting in this case.”

Davoli said there are “two types” of songs: ones that come from a stream of consciousness and others that are “story songs.” Most of the songs on his debut were stream of consciousness, he says. He is “trying different flavors of accompaniment, different chord progressions” with his new music as he continues to take in what he sees around him with an artistic perspective.

“Just always have an ear to the ground,” he said. “I think any songwriter, novelist or poet does that samething. You’re trying to take life and see if it can help you with your art.”

‘I’m not looking to be a star’

One hundred percent of proceeds from sales of "Nowhere Near" will go to the Greater Boston Food Bank.

“We’re donating it all,” Davoli said.

Davoli is no stranger to giving back and being involved in the community. He served on the board of theAmerican Repertory Theatre in Cambridge and on the board of the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston. He and his wife also started the Red Elm Tree Foundation, a charitable organization that gives money for land conservation, social justice, women’s rights, health care, and the arts.

“I think it’s important to give back,” he said. “I think if you’re fortunate and you have financial independence, you need to be active with your charitable side.”

While Davoli focuses on giving back, he isn’t concerned with becoming a music hotshot. He doesn’t have any elaborate plans for a big album release party or extensive tour, but he doesn’t count out the idea of playing a show once a month and scheduling duet performances with Parks.

“I’m not looking to be a star,” he says. “I’m just looking to be able to express myself.”

"Nowhere Near" is available at BobDavoli.com and all major streaming services.

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Truro venture capitalist Robert Davoli gives money, music to others