Maggie Tharp’s debut EP Love, Maggie is a labor of love in the truest sense, crafted with friends, shaped in her own home, and brought to life by the Knoxville music community that surrounds her. With her husband Owen Tharp at the helm of production and lead guitar, alongside friends Nick Horner, Darian Pagano, Hunter Deacon, who played drums on the EP, and Logan Sexton as the mixing engineer, the project comes off really intimate and expansive, the sound relating to Carole King, ABBA and other influences. At its heart, though, the EP is Maggie’s story, from self-discovery, resilience and the pursuit of art on her own terms.
The opening track, “Highway Love,” sets the tone with jittery percussion and radiant melodies that echo the thrill of possibility. Tharp’s voice is tender yet resolute as she sings, “Cause’ I know that I am headed to someone and someone’s waiting on me.” With a road journey she exemplifies the perseverance, with the struggles all being worth it thanks to the kindness she received all the way and the promise of belonging and the love that’s waiting for her on the other side.
Later, “Shed My Tears” shifts gears into darker terrain. She sings deviously and darkly in her lower ranges over revving gnarling guitars and rumbling drums. In the chorus, when she sings, “Shed my tears/But you will never get the best of me,” the music engulfs her in an empowerinig penumbra surrounding her. In this anthem of release and renewal, her vulnerability transforms into armor.
But perhaps the soul of the record lies in “The Sea,” a contemplative, reflective song carried by soft piano and reflective guitar. She sings about surviving even when the going gets hard in diaristic lines like, “Took a new job just to get paid/Lost myself there in the same old same old same.” She asks, “Why do I fear the water when I was made for the sea?” over gushing beats, so she symbolises the return to one’s purpose despite fear, about rediscovering strength where it first began.
With Love, Maggie, Tharp opens a window into her life, her community, and her resolve to make music that heals and empowers. It’s a debut as personal as it is universal. Check it out on Spotify.
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Review by: Naomi Joan