Growing up in Montgomery County, Maryland, she hoped that one day she would perform at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, but she couldn’t have predicted that she would play the iconic venue over 100 times.
This weekend, country music singer/songwriter Maggie Rose returns home to perform live at the Rams Head in Annapolis, Maryland, on Friday, followed by The Birchmere in Alexandria, Virginia, on Sunday.
“I love those venues,” Rose told WTOP. “It’s also just nice to come home. My whole family is still up there and I feel like I’ve had a really great fan base that’s stuck with me since I moved to Nashville 16 years ago and it just keeps growing, so we’re ready to come back with the new tour.”
Born in Potomac, Maryland, in 1988, she attended Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School in D.C. before joining a Bruce Springsteen cover act called The B-Street Band. She moved to Nashville at age 19 where she signed with the record label Universal Republic to release a cover of “Use Somebody” by Kings of Leon.
Upon moving to R&J Records’ subsidiary Emrose/Stroudavarious Records, she released her first EP “Maybe Tonight” (2011) under her name Margaret Durante before rebranding to Maggie Rose for her breakthrough album “Cut to Impress” (2013), which landed a few hits on country radio, including “Better” and “I Ain’t Your Mama.”
“I was more focused on my independence,” Rose said. “It’s less of a statement on men, I don’t think they’re incompetent or anything, but I think in that point in a relationship you want to find someone who wants to have a good partner and not someone who’s gonna take care of you. I just thought it was funny and sassy, I liked the sort of funky sonic element to it compared to what I was hearing on the radio from women a lot at the time.”
She has since followed up with three more albums, “Change the Whole Thing” (2018), “Have a Seat” (2019) and her newest album “No One Gets Out Alive” (2014), produced by Ben Tanner of Alabama Shakes and featuring talented musicians from Jason Isbell’s band with guitarist Sadler Vaden and drummer Chad Gamble.
“One of the benefits of being in this town for so long is I’ve accumulated some really talented friends,” Rose said.
She promises to perform songs from the new album in Annapolis and Alexandria, including “Mad Love,” “Fake Flowers” and the title track “No One Gets Out Alive,” co-written with Natalie Hemby of The Highwomen.
“‘No One Gets Out Alive’ on its own without context sounds ominous and dark, but it’s about the urgency and preciousness of life, the finite amount of time we have,” Rose said. “I had a 64-piece orchestra (on ‘Mad Love’), this big, anthemic, cinematic piece that maybe would be worthy of a Tarantino soundtrack. … ‘Fake Flowers’ I love, it’s our single right now, it’s one of the songs I really look forward to singing. … It’s a little reckless and messy.”
Listen to our full conversation on the podcast below:
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