Maia Sharp
They say Nashville is a 10-year town — that is, it takes about a decade to find success here. Maia Sharp, a celebrated songwriter’s songwriter who grew up in Los Angeles, flirted with moving to Music City for about 20 years, and she hit her stride quickly after making Nashville home in 2019. She got established just in time for COVID to throw a wrench in the works, but she was able to make her eighth LP Mercy Rising and release it in 2021. Sharp’s show at 3rd and Lindsley on Sunday celebrates her new record Reckless Thoughts, an uplifting folk-rocker that feels like an exhalation: The music industry lifer made it as she put her life back together after divorcing her wife of 21 years. Reckless Thoughts finds Sharp on the other side of the process, looking backward with appreciation and forward with excitement.
Sharp came to music naturally. Her father Randy Sharp is a Grammy-winning songwriter who has written for Linda Ronstandt and Emmylou Harris. Maia’s songs were recorded by an equally impressive roster of artists including Cher, Bonnie Raitt and Art Garfunkel. But her parents knew better than to push her into the family business.
“My dad, as much as he knows, never gave me any unsolicited advice,” Sharp tells the Scene. “If I had a question, he would always have the answer, and he would help me through it, but he waited for me to ask. He showed me around the studio; he helped me to set up my first studio. I still have questions that I call him about!”
Growing up, Sharp dreamed of being the first woman to play Major League Baseball, but began playing saxophone in middle school as a backup plan. Sharp took her interest in jazz all the way to college, but found herself drawn to the Americana and indie-rock projects her friends were a part of in L.A. Once she began writing songs in her early 20s, it was over: “I fell hard for it, and it’s been my first love ever since.”
Sharp finds satisfaction in both performing and writing for others. She views performing her own songs as a personal outlet, and she’s clearly in love with the process of writing itself.
“They have served each other,” says Sharp. “I definitely have landed a cut because they saw me play live, and I’ve definitely landed a gig because they heard my song.”
While Sharp built a strong foundation in L.A., she drew strength from the network she developed in Music City when her marriage ended. Like so many others, Sharp finds herself energized by the collaborative spirit Nashville offers at its best.
“There’s just something about the chemistry here, the community and the ability to nurture it,” she says. “Maybe I’m just really lucky that I managed to find a few circles that lift each other up, but thankfully that’s what I’ve found here.”
Sharp built her community relatively quickly. The same band played on both Mercy Rising and Reckless Thoughts. Sharp met guitarist Joshua Grange back in L.A. through her then-wife; at the time, he played pedal steel for k.d. lang. She dialed up Grange shortly after moving to Nashville. Though she had other musicians in mind for Mercy Rising, Grange suggested bringing drummer Ross McReynolds and bassist Will Honaker on board, players who he knew worked well together. Things clicked so well that Sharp brought them back for another round, and there was no question this band — her “brothers” — would play shows with her.
That includes Sunday’s gig, Sharp’s first in town with her full band since moving here, bringing what she describes as “a whole new energy” to the process. It’s an evolution elegantly reflected in the Reckless Thoughts cut “Old Dreams,” as Sharp sings: “When I close my eyes / I don’t see what I used to see / I’m just not the same as I used to be / When the ghosts tell stories / They get all nostalgic for the way it was / I’m sick of it getting to me like it does.”
Also joining Sharp will be her good friends and fellow songsmiths Shelly Fairchild and Emily West. Garrison Starr will be coming in from L.A. to play as well, while Katie Larson on cello and Gabe Dixon on keys round out the band.
“The show will feel like a victory lap after a lot of musical and emotional work over the last four years.”
