Minneapolis folk sextet Maygen & The Birdwatcher took home wins for Album of the Year and Americana Artist of the Year on April 23 at the Midwest Country Music Organization’s annual awards show in in Arnolds Park, Iowa. The band led by Maygen Lacey and Noah Neumann received the accolades for their acclaimed 2022 release Bootleggin’ at the Flower Shoppe. The honors cap a year that has found the band touring and sharing stages with Old Crow Medicine Show, Paul Cauthen and Travis Tritt, and it has also been a fertile period for a group that continues to make strides in the field of progressive folk-rock-country, all fueled by the unique interplay between Maygen Lacey and Noah Neumann. The critical acclaim for the group continues, and their summer and fall 2023 tour promises to bring their sound home to old fans and new.
The 2023 awards follow the 2022 Americana Artist of the Year and Album of the Year wins for their debut album Moonshine. With Bootleggin’ a companion piece to their debut—their sound has evolved into a stunning amalgam of country and folk, with the songs displaying a new level of complexity and maturity—the accolades mark the ascendance of one of Americana’s most intriguing ensembles.
The good-time, good-vibes music on Maygen & The Birdwatcher’s 2022 EP Bootleggin’ at the Flower Shoppe continues the story of one of Americana’s most accomplished—and versatile—bands. Bootleggin’ at the Flower Shoppe comes a year after the six-piece group led by singer-songwriters Maygen Lacey and Noah Neumann released their universally acclaimed debut full-length Moonshine. The Americana community took notice, with the EP earning two nominations, for Album of the Year and Americana Artist of the Year, from Midwest Country Music. With the combination of Maygen’s alt-country-infused songwriting and Noah’s strikingly versatile guitar playing, their first album introduced a new voice in Americana-folk-country.
Bootleggin’ at the Flower Shoppe was conceived as a companion piece to Moonshine, with the material having been written at the same time as the songs on the earlier record. Bootleggin’ folds in bright fiddle lines, raggedy banjo licks and loud electric guitars. It’s eclectic, wide-ranging Americana that isn’t afraid to embrace the band’s myriad influences, but it’s also firmly rooted in folk and country. It’s the country side of their sound you hear throughout Bootleggin’. The six songs that make up the EP were recorded at Minneapolis’ Flowers Studio, and they show another side of this multi-faceted band. (In true Bootleggin’ style, the sixth song—a raucous cover of Soundgarden’s “Rusty Cage”—can be found only on the physical CD. Due to popular demand, it was released to streaming platforms in March 2023.)
During the process of writing and recording Bootleggin’, Maygen Lacey and Noah Neumann defined the unique qualities of each song. To achieve their rich, full sound, the band then filled out the details, with multi-instrumentalist Nik Pellinen adding banjo, Dobro and electric guitar. Along with bassist Ethan Moravec, who rounds out the bottom end and contributes vocals, mandolin and fiddle player Jesse Moravec and drummer-percussionist Peter Anderson create a new take on bluegrass-folk-country. It’s a hyphenated hybrid that can come only from a seasoned—and tightly knit—band.
Maygen & The Birdwatcher got together in 2017, when Maygen and Noah were performing at the same church. Maygen’s then-band was looking for a guitarist, and Noah expanded their sound with his bluesy guitar. It soon became apparent that Maygen and Noah had ideas for songs that took them out of the genre they were performing in. In 2018 they forged a new way, and built Maygen & The Birdwatcher from a duo into the current six-piece, releasing Moonshine in October 2021. Bootleggin’ at the Flower Shoppe expands upon their style with hints of classic country and bluegrass.
Talking to Canvas Rebel Magazine about the EP and their full-band sound, Maygen says: “We really love music that can fill a space and entertain.” It’s that expansive attitude toward music-making, and entertaining that makes Bootleggin’ at the Flower Shoppe and Maygen & The Birdwatcher such a refreshing addition to the canon of Americana.
