Memphis is a beacon. It attracts artists from the world over, inviting them to make a home — and an album or film or other work of art — here. One such artist is Rachel Maxann, the Ohio-born singer-songwriter who will be performing, with her band, on a double bill with Alice Hasen this weekend at Crosstown Arts’ Green Room.
Maxann first visited the Bluff City on a tour. “Memphis was one of my stops, and I fell in love with it,” she says. She adds that she thought it might make a nice place to make a home, though she didn’t expect to find herself back in the Bluff City so soon.
“I was doing cruise ships when the pandemic happened. Then of course everything sort of went to a halt. … I actually would consider Memphis my first actual ‘home’ in a while,” the singer explains, saying that while she enjoyed the freedom and the friends she made while performing on a cruise ship, even before the pandemic made it a necessity, she had begun to long for a place to settle down. To paraphrase the late country songsmith Tom T. Hall, that’s how she got to Memphis.
Now, with an ace group of Memphis musicians forming her band, Maxann is ready for her second performance at The Green Room — her first with a full group. Those performers are drummer Robb Aquadro, bassist Zach Riddick, and keyboardist/producer Doug Walker, and together they blend indie elements with what Maxann describes as “postmodern folklore.” “It’s becoming a very Memphis-made sound. It’s really exciting,” she says. That sound can be heard on the band’s recently released EP, Belonging to Forever. The EP’s “Goddess” is a stunning example, with haunting production and a soaring vocal performance from Maxann.
Alice Hasen + Rachel Maxann at Crosstown Arts, Saturday, October 2nd, 7:30 p.m.
