In one of those weird twists of life, Maria McKee – whom I have absolutely loved since her Lone Justice days – I have all her albums, solo and otherwise – is now someone I consider a friend. She attended the first workshop performance of my script, held at my cousin Mike’s house in Los Angeles. It was such an honor that she came – it was the first time we met in person, after corresponding online – and she was such an attentive beautiful presence, listening very closely to the script, and giving insightful comments afterwards. She also, at one point, picked up a banana from a nearby bowl of fruit and pretended to make a phone call. I loved her immediately.
I wanted to point the way – first of all to her music and her extraordinary once-in-a-generation voice – but to the two films she created with her husband Jim Akin. He directed, they produced, they created, she starred, she composed the music. They’re gorgeous pieces of work and I cannot recommend them highly enough. I’ve written about both of them:
The first is After the Triumph of Your Birth.
The second is The Ocean of Helena Lee.
I’ve been a Maria McKee fan since I first heard “Ways to Be Wicked” on the radio. Like you, I have all her albums. (Though I have not seen either film or heard their soundtracks. I’ll have to see what I can find on those.) I still listen to her solo debut quite often. “Panic Beach” is probably my favorite song in her catalog. Lyrically, it reminds me of early Springsteen, Tom Waits or even Dylan. Her voice in the song is simultaneously soft and urgent, of someone wounded but not broken, determined to leave the hardscrabble life behind. I may be reading a little too much into it, but because she has such control over her voice she can evoke those kind of images.
In your comments about Freddie Mercury you mentioned about how it might be better to fly under the radar of mainstream success. The more I think about it, you’re right. She never could have recorded an album like La Vita Nuova (which I was lukewarm on at first, but have come to really appreciate) if she were part of “the machine.”
A great talent!
// Lyrically, it reminds me of early Springsteen, Tom Waits or even Dylan. //
I so agree. Not sure if you know the backstory of how Dylan gave Maria a song he had written – which she recorded. which … when does that happen? I tried to find out more about it and came up with this link:
https://bob-dylan.org.uk/archives/3089
The connector there is Maria’s half brother Bryan – from Love.
// I may be reading a little too much into it, but because she has such control over her voice she can evoke those kind of images. //
This is so well said.
// She never could have recorded an album like La Vita Nuova (which I was lukewarm on at first, but have come to really appreciate) if she were part of “the machine.” //
Yes!! and the mainstream did want her at one point – early on – she speaks pretty openly about what that was like. Very disorienting. she’s too wild a spirit to be put into a box. I think a lot of people who were unaware of her – or who didn’t know Lone Justice – discovered her because Quentin Tarantino used “red dress” so memorably in Pulp Fiction – and it was on the soundtrack. One of her best performances and REALLY shows what she can do with that voice!!
The “machine” is not kind to eccentrics. You can be “eccentric” but it has to be approved eccentricity – almost like a game, a “brand”. If you are an actual dyed-in-the-wool eccentric like Maria – that must be a very soulless experience. To “market” your eccentricity, you know?
I don’t want to speak for her. Just thinking out loud and trying to imagine what it was like for her.