Contemporary folk singer Lily Mae has done a lot with a little. Based on the strength of just one solo EP, the Bucks County-based guitarist opened for Joan Osborne and for her idol Jenny Owens Young, who also came onstage to sing with Mae on her birthday. She also played at clubs in New York and Philadelphia regularly, and at folk festivals in the region.
Now, at 19 years old, Mae is gearing up to debut the next phase of her music career. On March 31, she’s opening for Ian Matthews at the Sellersville Theater, and soon after she’ll be releasing her second EP.
The disc isn’t titled yet, but will feature five songs that cast Mae in a new light: as the leader of a band, rather than just a rich voice and acoustic guitar.
“It was something I”ve always wanted to do, especially with some of the music I’ve been writing recently,” she said while on a break from mixing her songs. “I’ve been writing a lot with other instruments in mind.”
She was spurred on in part by a heavy gigging schedule after graduating high school. She’d started seeing the same faces and realized people were hearing the same songs over and over.
Writing with a full band in mind, however, put her outside her comfort zone.
“Every time I’ve sat down to arrange parts, I’ve felt like I had no idea what I was doing,” she laughed. “I have clear intentions, I have sounds in mind, but it was something I’d never done before, and I’d think, ‘Wow, I have no idea what I’m doing.’ That can be a little intimidating.”
But Mae taught herself how to create the sounds she heard — and saw — in her head.
“When I hear sounds, I see colors. I’ll think, ‘This song needs more green,’ and I’ll add glockenspiel, which is green to me,” said Mae. “That’s kind of my moment, when I find the sound for that color.”
The process also took her to England for a week to record with producer Steve Brown, who’s also worked with Rumer and Laura Mvula, both artists Mae admires. Brown heard Mae’s EP when the latter was working to secure an opening slot for Mvula. The performance didn’t pan out, but she got the invitation work with Brown and his own session musicians.
“It was a little nerve-wracking to think a bunch of people who knew nothing about me would play on the record,” she admitted. But the professionals quickly latched on to what Mae was looking for, and together they tracked five songs.
Of those, two will make it on to this EP, while Mae decides when to release the three that she says are just as good but don’t fit stylistically with the other songs she’s using right now. She worked on the remainder much closer to home, co-producing them with her father in Bucks County. The two also play most of the instruments.
“It’s been a really fun process to do with him,” said Mae. “I grew up listening to music with him. Getting to create something with my dad has been awesome.”
The new songs sounds different than when it was just Mae and a guitar. But, she said, it’s a step forward, not a change of direction: “It’s still me, I haven’t done anything to change my voice. It’s still rooted in the same place. It’s just more thought out, and it’s completely how I heard it in my head.”
Lily Mae will perform at the Sellersville Theater, 24 W. Temple Ave. in Sellersville, on March 31. For information, visit www.lilymaemusic.com.
