Maggie Koerner
Date Signed: September 2018
Label: Concord Records
Type of Music: Rock/Folk
Management: Reid Martin - MidCitizen Ent., 239-405-1214
Booking: [email protected]
Legal: [email protected]
Publicity: [email protected]
Web: maggiekoerner.com
A&R: Nick Haussling
It can take years of hard work to finally get a label deal. And there are moments when your confidence, your belief in your talent, has to be strong. You gotta just take the microphone and show what you can do.
New Orleans-based singer-songwriter Maggie Koerner sharpened her skills for years at various venues before she landed a label deal. When the offer came, it was due, primarily, to two crucial factors: her diligence and friendships forged in the fires of touring.
Her story began one night at a bar in Shreveport, LA when she caught New Orleans band The Revivalists’ set. “I said that I could sing and asked if I could join them for a song,” she recalls. “They were three hours into a four-hour gig and were tired so they let me do it. They saw that I was good and we became friends.”
Koerner moved to New Orleans and began to write with David Shaw, The Revivalists’ vocalist. “Dave knew [Concord Records’ A&R rep] Nick Haussling,” she explains. “He told him he should listen to me. [Dave] has always been my number-one believer, even when I didn’t believe in myself. I had to pave my own way, but he was always there with a helping hand.”
After continual coaxing from Shaw, Haussling, label president John Burk and several other Concord comrades came out to see Koerner at famed Los Angeles venue The Hotel Café. “John had a twinkle in his eye,” the singer recollects. “I could tell that he saw it; that I wasn’t trendy. I came back to LA and had my publisher set up some songwriting sessions. I had pretty much the greatest meeting possible with Nick, John and my manager Reid [Martin].
“I felt like I’d known [John] my whole life,” Koerner continues. “He’s the real deal. When they later sent the contract, I looked at Reid and said, ‘Can I breathe now?’ Then I collapsed in tears. It’s been a nine-and-a-half year journey. When you do it slowly and right, you appreciate it so much more.”
