Judd & Maggie
Faith is a powerful thread that is intricately woven throughout every aspect of a believer’s life. It surfaces in songs and conversations, in smiles and revelations. And so it is with Judd and Maggie, a talented brother/sister duo who’s well crafted songs about life and all its complexities have earned them national acclaim.
The duo first gained attention in mainstream music circles with their RCA debut disc “Subjects,” and though they readily admit a mutual passion for reaching the world, they also want to encourage other believers. “Our faith is definitely the most important thing in our lives,” says Judd. “It has a great effect on our songwriting.”
“We try to incorporate our faith into all different parts of our lives and I think it just comes through our songs and the words we write. A lot of times we’ll get a certain line from a spiritual reading that we’ve done and that helps spawn an idea for a song,” adds Maggie.
The roots of Judd and Maggie’s “Subjects” stretch back to an old house on the west side of Baltimore, where the siblings spent their first years. When Judd was 15 and Maggie was 11, their family traded the urban setting for the countryside near Frederick, Maryland, about 35 miles north of Washington D.C. While corner grocery stores and neighbors’ front stoops had once been only steps away, Judd, Maggie & their five siblings were suddenly surrounded by woods and farmland.
Two streams of music flowed through their household. “Back in the Sixties our dad was in a folk band called the Glencoves,” Maggie says. “They were kind of like the Kingston Trio...”
“...or the Folksmen,” Judd suggests, “if you’ve seen ‘A Mighty Wind.’”
“And my mom’s family is our boisterous, Irish side,” Judd continues. “They sing show tunes at the top of their lungs.”
Following in his father’s footsteps, Judd played in bands throughout high school and college. “Our dad has had a big impact on us,” says Judd. “He’s always writing songs, reading poetry and reading books. So it was a very literary household.”
Meanwhile, Maggie, like her mother’s relatives, was memorizing the Broadway canon. In high school and college, she appeared in “The Sound of Music,” “The Wizard of Oz,” “Fiddler on the Roof”... anything that involved belting a melody toward the balcony.
When Maggie came home from college on the weekends, the two began working as a duo. It wasn’t unlike what they’d been doing since they were kids at church events and parties. In fact, neither can remember any one particular show as their debut. But there was this one night in Ireland that stands out as particularly memorable for the siblings.
They were on a family vacation and were dining at a little place in Galway. “My parents, our two younger siblings, Maggie and I started to sing a few songs,” recalls Judd. “Our dad looked at us and said, ‘You know what? You guys have to play together!’”
And so they did. They began performing around Baltimore and recorded an independent CD. Their harmonies tightened, their lyrics matured, their sound grew deeper and more transparent. The instrumentation remained simple: Judd on piano and acoustic guitar and Maggie on bass.
The duo’s big break came when they were performing at a used bookstore in New York called the Housing Works. An A&R rep for RCA saw them and invited them to perform for label executives at the BMG Building in New York. With all the glitter and glitz of Times Square shining through the windows behind them, Judd & Maggie’s heartfelt, organic music provided a compelling contrast. “We just trusted in the Lord and did our best,” says Judd. “We didn’t really know where that would take us.”
Soon after, the duo found themselves signed to RCA and on their way to Los Angeles to record their debut. Their talent attracted a stellar group of collaborators. Joey Waronker produced the album using some of the talented musicians that had backed Beck. The outing was executive produced by Joey’s father, music business legend Lenny Waronker, who was instrumental in the careers of James Taylor, Arlo Guthrie, Elvis Costello and Randy Newman. “I was entranced by the sheer musicality of Judd and Maggie’s songwriting, by the strength of their individual voices, and the power and beauty of the vocal blend,” says the senior Waronker, who came out of retirement to oversee “Subjects.”
“It was a lot of fun,” Maggie says of the recording experience. “We worked with Joey every day in the studio and he just let us do it really naturally, how we wanted to do it. He kept it simple. It was a really great experience.”
Maggie says the musicians were key in helping them realize their vision. “Sometimes it’s hard for musicians to play simply, but these guys had so much taste,” she says. “They made every note count. We learned a lot just by watching them play.”
The result is a potent collection of songs that showcase the duo’s earthy, honest vocals and thoughtful , introspective songwriting. “The album is about relationships,” says Judd. “Half the songs are probably about relationships with another person, but I would say that half the songs are about our relationship with God.”
Among the highlights on “Subjects” is a song called “Sponge.” “It’s about absorbing Christ,” says Maggie. “It’s about really trying to live in Christ and knowing that in the world, like it says in the chorus, ‘they’ll never understand me, but I know you do.’”
The siblings feel God is equipping them to share the gospel with the world. “We definitely feel as Christians we belong in the world and not of it, and we shouldn’t be afraid of being in the world. God equips us for every good work,” says Judd.
Judd and Maggie are looking forward to taking the music from “Subjects” on the road through 2006, and are particularly excited about touring with Derek Webb. “We are playing with definitely one of our favorite artists,” Judd says of Webb. “We’ve played with him before and we’re kind of mutual fans, so we are going on the road with him and his wife. That will be really fun.”
When they are not performing in a local church, the duo is seeking one as a place to recharge their batteries.
“When we are on the road, we always try to find churches in every city,” says Maggie. “That’s just kind of a little oasis and it reminds us why we are doing this and gives us some peace. I don’t think we could do it without it.” |
