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The Americana Dream is a journey of a record that finds Maygen & The Birdwatcher expanding their horizons in multiple ways. The second record from the Minnesota group led by songwriters Maygen Lacey and Noah Neumann is a sonic travelogue that charts where the group has been and where their collective gaze is headed. Embracing their bluegrass and folk roots while incorporating new and thrilling elements to their sound, Maygen & The Birdwatcher have crafted a work that feels timeless upon first contact with it—the kind of music that travels with the listener wherever they may roam.

The record marks a new chapter for Maygen & The Birdwatcher, who broke through with the sparkling bluegrass of their 2021 debut Moonshine, followed by festival opportunities to share stages with fellow genre luminaries like Sierra Ferrell, Old Crow Medicine Show, and Grace Potter. Their work so far has led to many accolades—including Album of the Year, Americana Artist of the Year, and Entertainer of the Year from the Midwest Country Music

Organization—and they’ve had their songs featured in Spotify's Indie Bluegrass and New Grass playlists, Minnesota Monthly, and 89.3FM The Current.

The group followed Moonshine with several releases—including, most recently, the Leap Year EP from 2024–that focused on live takes and in-the-moment creative inspiration. “Those were all done with us gathering in a recording studio, recording live, and doing vocals the next day,” Lacey explains—so it makes sense that, for The Americana Dream, Maygen & The Birdwatcher took a deliberate approach that blended their full-band sound with studio-session brainstorming.

Thematically, she elaborates that The Americana Dream is about “experiencing all that this country—this life, this craft as a musician—has to offer. You have to experience it to form thoughts, ideas, and opinions that drive what you do.” The title itself gestures towards a reimagining of what “the American dream” means, shifting away from the aspirational nature of the concept itself and moving towards a full embrace of the literal definition of Americana: The vast geographical, historical, and cultural expanse that reflects Maygen & The Birdwatcher’s roots as well as this country as a whole.

The involvement of co-producer John Fields (Brandi Carlile, Soul Asylum, Miley Cyrus) played a substantial role in bringing together The Americana Dream’s expansive sound. “We went in thinking we’d just try to do one song with him,” Lacey says, speaking specifically to the lovely penultimate track “All I Know (This Love).” “We always love to get together with people that aren't exactly like how we work, so we can get a fresh perspective and push each others’ boundaries a bit. It was a completely different experience for us,” Neumann adds when talking about working with Fields. “This is a guy who's had a ton of experience in the industry and a diverse career, which got us excited to work together—and he added extra unexpected flavor as a result, the little things that often make an album what it is.”

After an initial session with Fields in 2022, Lacey and Neumann decamped to the studio with him at the end of 2023 to build the bones of The Americana Dream—which gave them the opportunity between touring to take the new songs back to the band and bring them to life throughout 2024. “We’d go to the band and say, ‘Let's try some stuff out,’ which was cool, because hyper-aggressively going over a song can create some friction,” Neumann recalls. “On all of our past albums we recorded all instruments together and live, then added vocals. For this album we started with vocals and acoustic, but still kept the stringed instruments together live as the second step. That helped us continue to generate that special energy, which you really can’t replicate otherwise.”

Indeed, with the whole group in tow the energy and instrumentation on The Americana Dream is remarkable, from Jesse Moravec’s electric mandolin on “Rejoice!” and “Hold Ya Down,” Nik Pellinen’s rollicking banjo on “Elizabeth,” to Joe Barron’s distinctive upright bass approach and the commanding rhythm section of Peter Anderson. “Not only is he an astounding drummer, he's also constantly been a solid champion of us,” Lacey says about Anderson’s contributions in particular. “Everyone knows and loves Peter. We're so lucky to have him as a part of our band.”

A deep love for the ground we walk on—as well as for the future of the planet itself—courses through “Rhododendron” and the lap steel-laden “Montana,” the latter of which imbued with the drive to create new experiences with people face-to-face, which is the only way you can continue forging new paths yourself. “You can read and hear about a place, but to actually experience it is what is truly meaningful and helps shape who you are and your view of the world,” Neumann says.

True to the record’s travelogue nature, the swinging “Millie Moon” was written when Neumann’s daughter turned one, and was inspired by visiting the Colorado town of Palisade while the band was on the road. “It's like a different planet,” he says about the town and how it inspired the tune. ”There's a lot of really good vibes and people who are living a life of freedom and joy. I wanted to connect that with my daughter turning one and that experience of my wife and I choosing joy in our lives with her in it.”

Lacey’s daughter lends “Elizabeth” its name, the song’s central melody having an origin in a tune she couldn’t shake while waiting in a seemingly endless school pickup line—but the song itself is more of a fictional character study zeroing in on “someone that just needs to loosen the reins a little bit and let other people be a part of their life, even though sometimes it might be uncomfortable for them.” Speaking of loosening the reins, “Elizabeth” also finds the group letting their hair down and getting a bit spacey-arrangement wise: “I like that we get a little jammy in the bridge,” Neumann adds while talking about the song. “It's fun to have those opportunities to rock out a little bit, too.”

Then there’s the elegant, winning first single “Feel Good,” which was also one of the first songs that Lacey and Neumann wrote for The Americana Dream. “Noah and I finally sat in a room and tried to write it together, which is not how we normally operate,” Lacey recalls. “It was a fun challenge, because I personally like to chew on things a long time. I'm not like a Nashville writer, where you get together and pop out a song in a day at all. But we decided to try that for this song, so Noah grabbed a guitar and we ran with it.”

Running with it—towards the future, whatever it may hold—is the essence of The Americana Dream, as Maygen & The Birdwatcher continue to push themselves while making it sound easy and effortless through the pure strength of their creations. “Our previous releases etched out our place in an already established sound,” Neumann says while ruminating on the record’s place in their growing catalogue. “This record feels like our opportunity to take risks and stand out from that place—to say, ‘Where else can we take this that feels completely authentic to us?”

“At the end of the day, we just wanted to make sure we’re doing what feels right,” Lacey adds. “It makes sense in our mind. Hopefully, it makes sense to other people as well.” With songs like these, there’s no doubt that it will.