In this week's music interview podcast, I talked with Macie Stewart!

Here's Macie Stewart's bio:

Macie Stewart (she/her/they/them) is a multi-instrumentalist, composer/arranger, songwriter, and improviser based in Chicago, IL. Stewart began her musical career at the age of 3. Learning piano while she learned to talk, she discovered two foundational modes of communication at once. As the daughter of a career musician (pianist Sami Scot), Stewart was encouraged to explore the piano and violin, and she became proficient on both instruments.

After helping to found the Chicago bands Kids These Days and Marrow, Stewart broadened her interests and spent time in the avant-garde jazz scene, performing regularly at Chicago institutions Constellation and The Hungry Brain. It was in that scene Stewart distinguished herself as a go-to collaborator, co-founding the band OHMME (with Sima Cunningham) and performing and improvising with Ken Vandermark’s Marker ensemble, the improvised act The Few (with guitar player Steve Marquette and bassist Charlie Kirchen) and the violin/cello duo Macie Stewart & Lia Kohl.

Stewart has also spent years working as a string arranger, drawing on her varied background in classical, jazz, and Irish folk music to create unique arrangements for artists such as the band Whitney, SZA, Lala Lala, Tasha, V.V. Lightbody, Knox Fortune, and many others. Stewart also composes music for film, television, and other commissioned projects.

I loved chatting with Macie.  She was very sweet, thoughtful, and just generally on top of things.  Macie has been performing and touring for years, and it was really interesting to hear how she coped with the forced break of the pandemic.  We talked about mental health and maintaining relationships while touring, and balancing commercialism and pure creative freedom when working on music.   My favorite part of our conversation was discussing why she enjoys working in partnerships so much, as well as hearing about her new album "Mouth Full of Glass", just released on Friday via Orindal Records!

Learn more about Macie Stewart here!