Maria Taylor

Born in spring 1976 in Birmingham, Ala., the ethereal-voiced Maria Taylor won over her first fans at age 15 as part of the Birmingham duo Little Red Rocket, a pop/rock group that brought comparisons to Belly. When that outfit, which issued two CDs — 1997's Who Did You Pay and 2000's It's in the Sound — disbanded after getting lost in the shuffle that was Geffen's merger with Universal Music Group, Taylor and her musical partner, Orenda Fink, relocated to Athens, GA, and regrouped as Azure Ray. With help from Conor Oberst's well-trained ear, the Saddle Creek label act Now It's Overhead picked up on their plaintive pop sound and courted them to join. As half of that group, they signed to the Omaha, NE-based Saddle Creek while continuing their Azure Ray projects on the independent Warm Recordings. In 2001, both Azure Ray and Now It's Overhead released scantly received self-titled debuts; a year later, Taylor and Fink took up full-time residence in Omaha and released Burn and Shiver. The pair's third full-length, 2003's Hold on Love, released on Saddle Creek, brought it indie-scene raves on the merits of the singles "The Drinks We Drank Last Night" and "New Resolution." Fall Back Open, a Now It's Overhead set, was released in 2004 amid heavy touring. Having paid her dues by contributing lullaby-warm vocals to various projects by Moby, Bright Eyes, and Crooked Fingers, Taylor struck out on her own with 2005's 11:11. On it, she is by turns melancholy ("Birmingham 1982") and daring (the danceable "One for the Shareholder"). Throughout, she sounds like Ida's pillow-voiced Elizabeth Mitchell, but the wisdom, joy, and pain that pulse from her carefully crafted lyrics owe a debt to Carole King and Laura Nyro. Two years later, Taylor's second solo record, Lynn Teeter Flower, came out.