Born in Vermont and raised outside of Boston, Maryanna Devlin moved to Manhattan after high school to study acting, where she fell in love with the transitive power of art, eventually finding songwriting in her mid-twenties as a way to process childhood grief. The devastating loss of her brother, who passed away when she was fourteen, led her to pursue music nearly a decade later. “He was an excellent musician, and when he died, there were a lot of emotions I needed to process. But I didn’t know how until seven years later when I started writing songs—then it all poured out of me.” Inspired by Brandi Carlile, she borrowed a guitar and taught herself to play using a pamphlet of chords from her mother. She found singer-songwriter, Josh Ritter, a few years later, whose idiosyncratic style inspired her to continue creating music in her own, unique way.
On her latest single, “Gary, Indiana”, Devlin offers up a poignant story of hard-fought reconciliation set to a compelling arrangement full of patience and space. The vocals have a Stevie Nicks-inspired delivery that adds grit to the ethereal backdrop and soft fingerpicking while intermittent vocal harmonies and percussion bring to life the ups and downs that come with trying to mend a strained relationship.
The song was inspired by a trip Maryanna took with her father to see a Boston College vs. Notre Dame football game. “Football was his life, and a huge part of mine growing up,” she explains. “This trip was a somewhat healing moment for us, as we tried to mend our relationship after years of him abusing alcohol and drugs. This was the first song we recorded, and it really connected me with the team at the studio.”
