SUSAN WERNER – King Margo opens

Singer songwriter Susan Werner celebrates the release of her 16th recording, the New Orleans themed “NOLA,” with a series of 2019 concert dates.

The author of numerous concept albums including 2016’s “An American In Havana” and 2007’s set of agnostic hymns, “The Gospel Truth,” Werner penned a collection of originals based on the piano stylings of Dr. John, Professor Longhair and Allen Toussaint. The album was recorded in New Orleans and Philadelphia, and features trombonist David L. Harris from Preservation Hall.

KING MARGO

King Margo is Lucciana Costa and Rachel Coats, who grew up 40 minutes apart but didn’t meet until many years later in the middle of a Kentucky field.

Lucciana grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan, discovering the slide guitar at 12 years old, which led to her playing in several local bands throughout her teens. Rachel, from Toledo, Ohio, also cut her teeth on the local gig scene with her musically inclined family. An upright bass player since middle school, Rachel continued on to play in several orchestras and earned a Music Education degree from Bowling Green State University.

Both women spent their twenties building a steady rotation of live shows, studio work and a gun-for-hire multi-instrumentalist reputation. Rachel was selected to join several international touring artists in the folk-pop realm on bass and vocals. Lucciana focused on songwriting and composition, spending half a decade in Los Angeles honing her craft and discovering her voice. Eventually Lucciana and Rachel found themselves in Nashville, both hired for the same touring project where they met for the first time. They connected instantly, both musically and personally, and the seeds for what would eventually become King Margo were planted.

King Margo hit the road almost immediately, thanks to their love of travel and their inclination to book shows across the country where various friends and family reside. Scrappy gigs and long hours in a van helped solidify the humor and tone of their first album, Barely Gettin By, which was self-recorded and successfully crowdfunded by fans they’d picked up along their travels. Their first album was pure fun, capturing the youth and sarcasm and liveliness honed by playing in rowdy bars deep into the night. 

In anticipation of their second record, King Margo has matured into a more evolved sound. The state of the world has made us all sit up a little straighter over the past few years. The songs are more personal. The arrangements are more intricate, featuring the soaring harmonies that have captured ears across the country. “She never boarded up the windows/Grandma likes to say/She rode out every storm/Frying chicken just the same,” opens the song “Monsters,” inspired by a conversation overheard in a New Orleans coffee shop. The girls pay homage to their upbeat roots with the open-relationship-themed country jam, “you can hang your shirt wherever you like, so long as you hang your hat with me.” There are songs of love, murder, tornados, and religion. They are songs carefully crafted after a long year of hibernation and a new awareness of how lucky it is to bring music to the world. 

King Margo is ready for a beer in your town. If they’re not making music, they are rock climbing or snowboarding. They are disciples of living the good life, taking care of your people and being nicer to the planet. They want to see you somewhere out there soon.P