Maia Sharp's Busy Year

Pay attention. Maia Sharp has a remedy for wellness: Vitamin C packets, Espresso, and red wine.

"Whether [the Vitamin C packets] are physically helping me, or psychologically, they are great!" said Sharp, who, on a daily basis, drinks four to five shots of Espresso, has two to three Vitamin C packets and a glass of red wine at night.

Sharp needs all the energy she can get. Her new album, Echo was just released online, and is scheduled to be in stores this month.

"This last year I think I'm more exhausted than I've ever been, but I feel great," she said.

Sharp worked with legendary producer Don Was on the album and says without intending it, "truth crept in" on all 12 songs.

"I'm proud of all my albums," Sharp says. "But I felt it would be more complete if I found a way to craft a new song, a new way to tell an old story, a rhyme that fits."

Sharp has been crafting songs before her teens, when she learned guitar, piano and saxophone. She would play along to her Bonnie Raitt records, with a dream that one day, she would be able to play saxophone onstage with Raitt. Four years ago, her dream came true when Raitt asked Sharp to tour with her.

"This all happened through songwriting," she said.

Sharp started out as a songwriter and quickly had high-profile artists such as Raitt and the Dixie Chicks recording her songs. Sharp jokes that she has been fortunate to have artists that sell more albums than her record her songs.

"If I feel a connection to a song, the listener will feel more of a connection," Sharp said. "It's a compliment to have someone choose one of my songs...They give it a new life."

Sharp will be playing an intimate set of her songs at the Saugatuck Center for the Arts on August 17 at 8 p.m.. Not only will you hear songs off her new album, but Sharp will also perform familiar songs she wrote for the Dixie Chicks ("Home") and Raitt ("I Don't Want Anything to Change"). Tickets are $15.