Quick Q and A with Rollyn Zoubek (from Maeve)
 by Kathy S-B  ·  1 December 2008

We’re thankful that Rollyn Zoubek from Maeve was able to answer a few questions for us to help promote this Friday’s show at the me&thee. Courtney Reid, Rachel Taylor, and Rollyn Zoubek make up this dynamic musical trio. Maeve plays at all the usual spots here on the East coast, including coffeehouses, churches, clubs, and in the subways of Boston. Their delightful melodies and tight harmonies certainly capture the hearts and minds of music fans wherever they travel. Find out more about Maeve on their website.

How would you best describe the sound of Maeve?

I really like how Matt Smith from Club Passim described our sound: “Acoustic-driven pop with gospel overtones.” For all three of us, our primary instrument is our voice, so we spend a lot of time working on unique vocal arrangements and harmonies. Lately we’ve been having a lot of fun writing some new songs and spicing up old ones on a ganjo (a six-string banjo that is strung like a guitar) that Courtney bought with some Christmas money.

How did the the three of you start singing together?

Before we started singing together we were all involved in different bands which, coincidentally, all broke up around the same time. All three of us were trying to do some solo work and a friend booked us together for an evening at his venue in Wakefield. We thought it would be fun to collaborate on each other’s songs so we got together before the gig and learned some harmonies. We had so much fun together that we decided to try some busking in the Boston subways as a trio. We spent a few years underground working out songs and eventually arose as “Maeve.”

How has your sound evolved over the course of the past few years?

The greatest challenge we have faced in the evolution of our sound has been taking three solo artists with distinctly different styles of writing and creating a unified voice. We have released four records together and the last two have involved a lot more co-writing. Co-writing has helped us create more of a “Maeve” sound instead of “a Rollyn song, Courtney song, Rachel song” etc. We have also added a bunch of fun “crunchy” percussion to our live show (tambourines, a snare drum, shakers) that has become somewhat signature to our sound.

What would you say are your career highlights thus far?

A big moment for all three of us was getting the opportunity to open for one of our musical heroes, Sam Phillips, at the Paradise in Boston a few years ago. Bruce Cockburn was in the audience as well and we got some great pictures that night! Other highlights include working with two producers who we’ve been big fans of: Don Chaffer (of Waterdeep) produced “Whatever Befall,” and most recently Charlie Peacock (who won a Grammy for his work with Switchfoot), produced our latest project to be released early this summer.

A night with Hanneke Cassel at the Me and Thee will surely be added to our list of highlights as well! We are thrilled to get to perform in our hometown with a dear friend.