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MEGGAN MAHONEY
Meggan Mahoney plays piano because she has to.
A trained flutist, Meggan first learned to play keyboards simply because her teaching job said she had to. She has since emerged a compelling pianist whose striking keyboard melodies hook the listener into her songs. Now, Meggan has to play piano because "my songs tell me things I need to
hear about myself, things I hadn't even realized I felt." Her current release, You'll Never Know, highlights her "innovative and playful piano work" (Siren Song Magazine) and lyrics that "radiate vulnerability as she tells
her passionate stories" (WVUD-FM).
Struggling to find peace after the death of her grandfather, Meggan found herself at the piano in her classroom writing her first song. Four days later, she spent September 11, 2001 comforting her young students as they watched the day's events from their school across the Hudson River. Driven by a need for solace in an incomprehensible time, the songwriter in Meggan was awakened in the weeks that followed. Song after song took shape as she began besting demons from her past The result was a set of material that would become the foundation for a thought-provoking and prolific young songwriter's career.
Like many females who write for piano, Meggan feels a debt to the work of Tori Amos, but her influences are varied and her style has an eclectic edge. In one moment, she evokes Joni Mitchell, as she layers achingly self-deprecating lyrics over a deceptively light-hearted melody ("You'll Never Know"). In another, she bares uncompromisingly truthful words over an equally bare piano accompaniment ("My Complacency"). She may tell you exactly what she thinks, and her sultry music almost laughs with her as she does ("Goes To Show"). Even when she momentarily steps into an aggressive rock sound ("The Call"), the piercing honesty of her music connects all her songs.
Today, Meggan lives in a place that starkly contrasts the seeming serenity of the mountainous town where she spent her childhood. Teaching music in an urban public school, some of her students' circumstances can be as bleak as the concrete landscape. She is keenly aware of the frustrations
that drive many teachers away from teaching amidst desperate situations. But she says it is those same frustrations that keep her coming back -- to help
her students survive them. "People say that what I'm doing is pointless," she says, "that things are never going to change. It may be true that things will never fully change, but that's why being here matters. Because these are the students who stand to benefit the most from a teacher who cares."
And as songs like "Alone Again" reveal, the contrast between the tensions of urban life and the realities of a small town is often a superficial one. Meggan's quiet upbringing pushed her face-to-face with many of the same struggles, betrayals, and salvations that she sees in her young students today. Her songs articulate those moments with courage and humor, reminding us (as in "One Step") that it may all be survivable. |
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NEXT 10 SHOWS FOR MEGGAN MAHONEY
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( shows & times are subject to change )
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LISTEN TO MEGGAN MAHONEY
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COMMENTS ABOUT MEGGAN MAHONEY
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SOUTHERN STEEL BAND @ East Brunswick Elks M.C. 3rd Annual Kayleigh's Kisses poker run May 20, 2012 Knucklebone @ The Paramount Theater Asbury Park Bamboozle Festival Matt Wade @ Montauk Music Festival, NY - Green Pavilion
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