Tag: Maggie Pope

LISTEN: Maggie Pope, “Northern Girl”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Maggie Pope
Hometown: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Song: “Northern Girl”
Release Date: November 18, 2022

In Their Words: “I most often write songs with the hope that others will find their own unique connection with and meaning for the song — that its lyrics and melodies will resonate with the listener’s own story. The same is true for ‘Northern Girl,’ though I will say that for me, this one was inspired by and will always be about my grandmother. She lived in Gloucester, Massachusetts, right on the edge of the Annisquam River. I lived with her for a year or so after college as I found my footing and was working in Boston. She was full of wisdom and music and warm hugs.

“She once said to me, ‘Now, you know they’ll be okay’ when I had been worrying about some people close to me who were navigating a difficult situation. It was just a conversation we had in her kitchen, next to the muffin tin and the little jar on the windowsill that she had stuffed full with some bread crust to save to feed to the birds. The memory of it is still so clear in my mind and her words hit so profoundly for some reason. It wasn’t until I shared this song with my dad and he said, ‘Hey, you included a line in that song that is really special and something she used to say all the time to us’ that I realized why. Now, you know we’ll be okay.

“So much gratitude to my friends Nicholas Gunty, for producing this one in the most perfect way, and Brad Hinton, for lending his sweet voice.” — Maggie Pope

Photo Credit: Ellen Miller Photography

LISTEN: Maggie Pope, “The Bird Painter”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Maggie Pope
Hometown: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Song: “The Bird Painter”
Release Date: June 25, 2021

In Their Words: “‘The Bird Painter’ was written after a conversation I had with a songwriting mentor of mine: Steve Varney, frontman of Kid Reverie, and banjoist/guitarist for Gregory Alan Isakov. It was a nod to my love of ‘train songs’ as we called them… those that have a steady, relatively unchanging chord progression as a foundation. Humble little tunes that invite the listener to embark on more of a meditative, introspective journey rather than incorporating a more traditional song structure with a big chorus (which is also fun).

“Steve ended up producing this one, arranging and adding almost all of the elements beyond my own vocal and acoustic guitar; that cool electric slide, his warm vocal, and a tambourine that suddenly made me realize that tambourine sounds are some of my favorite sounds in the world. Music will do that sometimes. My dear friend (and another musical mentor) Adam Monaco then topped things off with a perfectly simple piano addition that somehow and inexplicably captures my love of twinkly lights. Music will do that sometimes, too.” — Maggie Pope

Photo credit: Robert Stolpe

WATCH: Under the Oak, “Beyond the Physical”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Under the Oak
Hometown: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Song: “Beyond the Physical”
Album: Big Sky
Label: Winding Way Records

In Their Words: “‘It’s beyond the physical. It’s beyond the beating heart…’ I was at a beach in Pensacola when that phrase started repeating itself in my head over and over again — that’s when the song began. At the time, I knew my dad was sick, but I didn’t know that he would be going into hospice within days and would be leaving us in a week’s time. I didn’t know why I was writing it — it was just one of those ‘gift songs’ that came quick and furious — the kind where you don’t really even know what it’s about until it’s finished.

“When Kris Magyarits (Creative Director, Alkemy X) offered to produce and create this video for us, we were blown away. He captured the spirit of the song and the band perfectly. After putting together the initial footage we got from the forests, fields, and creeks surrounding his home, Kris felt something was still missing — he decided that we needed to honor the beginnings of the song with a trip out to Cape May, New Jersey, to film the final scenes on the beach. We froze our butts off, laughed (and maybe cried a little), dined on some killer Indian cuisine, and threw chairs in the ocean. (All chairs were retrieved and we left nothing but our footprints.)” –Adam Monaco

Photo credit: Ellen Miller/ECM Productions