User:Etodd1

Career
Maggie Walters is an American singer and songwriter. Walters first began performing informally in Lawrence, KS solo and as singer for the band Red Admiral before moving to Chicago in 2000, where she played regularly in bars and clubs throughout the city. Her first standing gig was at a bar owned by Don Gibb (“Ogre” from the 1980’s film Revenge of the Nerds.) It was Gibb who auditioned Walters and featured her several nights a week.

Her first demo was recorded in her Wrigleyville apartment building bathroom, on a BR-1180. These demos would later become tracks on Maggie Walters and Midwestern Hurricane. After sending out a few demos, she was invited to play at a music festival in New York City.

In 2004 she received an invitation to play at the Campus Greens Convention in Austin, TX. A local KLBJ radio DJ had seen Walters playing at Gibb's bar in Chicago, and invited her to be a guest on his show while in Austin. She played a live version of "Thank You Richard," which would later become "Flash". Soon after her performances at Campus Greens, Walters moved to Austin to collaborate with the one of the musicians she’d met and given her demo to.

Before her first album was complete, the rough mixes made it into the hands of a KGSR radio DJ and he began playing a rough mix of "Fingerprints" regularly on the station. In 2005 Walters released her eponymous solo album collaborating with such artists as Chris Searles, Glenn Fukanaka, and Bukka Allen.

Upon its release, she played a CD release show at Austin's renowned Cactus Café. She received a four-star review in the Austin-American Statesman and gathered praise from Texas Music magazine, The Austin Chronicle, and many others. Shortly after the debut album’s release in 2005, Walters was chosen as a South by Southwest showcasing act, at which time she also made appearances on such shows as KGSR’s Live from the Four Seasons, KUT’s Eklekikos and The Bob Edwards Show. The independent release sold out and garnered more attention from the industry. Later that year, engineer and producer Dan Workman, co-owner of Houston’s Sugarhill Studios, approached Walters after hearing her and the two recorded an EP and released it early in 2006, in time for a second SXSW showcase. It was at this showcase where she signed her first record deal.

The record company wished to use four of the songs from Maggie Walters on the new album, but planned to have them re-worked or remixed. Walters agreed to the terms of the contract, and resultantly the original self-titled album was pulled from stores and digital distribution, and was not be replicated or sold again. To produce the new album Walters chose Butthole Surfer and Sublime producer Paul Leary, and they recorded and mixed the album at the Texas Treefort. On the album Walters again received support from notable artists such as Paul Leary, John Hagan (Lyle Lovett), Ian MacLagan (Rolling Stones), Ray Wylie Hubbard and Mark Rubin. James Vollentine engineered the project. The album would be called Midwestern Hurricane, the title of 9th song on the album, as well as a nickname she’d received from the Director of the Texas Music Office. Midwestern Hurricane was mastered by Howie Weinberg at Masterdisk in New York City. It is unclear why the album was not released after its completion, but according to web archives, it is known that the release date was pushed back six times. At the end of 2007- about a year after it’s completion- the album had still not been released as originally intended. It was at this time Walters parted ways with her record label, but retained the rights to the album, due partly to the fact that 4 of the titles were on her original release. In 2008 Midwestern Hurricane was released. Soon after, five of the other tracks from her original album were re-released, digitally only.

Discography
Maggie Walters (2005) The Real Life Cowboy EP (2006) (Also known as the Sugarhill EP, The Pink EP) Midwestern Hurricane (2008)