“I always want to write in a way where people will plug their own lives into the song,” says Nashville-based singer-songwriter Maia Sharp while reflecting on her forthcoming 9th solo album, Reckless Thoughts, due August 18th. “And I want them to choose this album because it provokes whatever it is they need to feel.”
The culmination of a 25-year career that’s included writing songs for the likes of Bonnie Raitt, Trisha Yearwood, Cher, and Art Garfunkel, Reckless Thoughts both continues and refines a confessional mood that emerged with Sharp’s previous album, 2021’s Mercy Rising. While that record was an Americana eruption of emotions from the end of a long marriage and leaving her native California, Reckless Thoughts is a more nuanced, clear-headed review of that life-changing roll of the dice. “This album took some searching,” mulls Sharp. “It was more of a challenge, because I’m not in the middle of a dramatic emotional mess anymore.”
With an intriguingly androgynous voice and rare medley of influences, Sharp has happily confounded pigeonholing throughout her career. She’s been labelled country, alt-country, roots, and pop – sometimes on the same release. The 10-track Reckless Thoughts, its title a reference to scenarios that spun in Sharp’s head as she pondered a new life in Nashville, is a songs-before-style caress of what’s now broadly termed Americana. It’s a record with an honest heart and refreshingly appreciative aura, conveyed through Sharp’s sublime timbre and innate, cultured melodic instincts; an audio exhalation after surviving the transition into single life in the natural songwriter’s habitat of Nashville.
Today Glide is excited to premiere the piano- and slide-kissed “Old Dreams,” which was spontaneously composed with Grammy-nominated Garrison Starr during a wine-fueled nighttime chat. Backed by a soulful and airy Americana soundtrack that puts Sharp’s vocals front and center, the song explores the exorcising of old ambitions we sometimes forget to update to reflect all we’ve learned since they were first built. In true Sharp fashion, the song is loaded with emotional power and resonance that is sure to connect with pretty much any listener. There is definitely a palpable sense of wisdom and reflection in the song as Sharp looks back on her own life and art.
Sharp describes the inspiration behind the song:
“Old Dreams” was born out of a conversation with my co-writer Garrison Starr. As we’ve done before, we were debriefing about life and work, when we touched on an idea that was too personal and important to us to just leave there. I see this song as a reminder to myself to let the experience and wisdom I’ve gained over the years inform what I really want now. That doesn’t look the same as it did when I was 25. “Old Dreams” is a nudge to check myself for default reactions and make sure I’m letting today’s dream reflect who I am now.
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1 Response
A new voice for me, I will dig for more as I did enjoy hearing ‘old dreams ‘ ????