From the words of her hometown paper in Jackson, WY, “Margo Valiante sings the blues high, strong and convincing,” a skill she acquired in the mountains and has brought, since the fall of 2008, to the city of Austin, TX. From the first note to the last, you’ll never hear a moment of hesitation in her songwriting nor in her voice. An admirer of Bonnie Raitt, Susan Tedeschi and Patty Griffin, Margo is often compared to these luminaries by her audiences. Friends say her voice could stop a train,...
From the words of her hometown paper in Jackson, WY, “Margo Valiante sings the blues high, strong and convincing,” a skill she acquired in the mountains and has brought, since the fall of 2008, to the city of Austin, TX. From the first note to the last, you’ll never hear a moment of hesitation in her songwriting nor in her voice. An admirer of Bonnie Raitt, Susan Tedeschi and Patty Griffin, Margo is often compared to these luminaries by her audiences. Friends say her voice could stop a train, not to mention stop every room she plays to. Margo was raised in a musical family, learning multiple instruments and harmonizing before she even knew what she was absorbing from the Townes Van Zandt and Bob Dylan songs she sang with her father. Voice became her priority and the guitar naturally followed suit, allowing her the freedom to be a self-sufficient performer.
Since 2005, Margo has consistently played over 150 shows a year as a solo lounge-singer in Wyoming and in Texas with her band. Performing so frequently prepared her for playing music anywhere, but Austin was where Margo wanted to write songs. Much of her inspiration comes from the stories that have touched her life, often writing about other people. She’s now starting to own her own stories, something that will only make listeners sink deeper into her sound and words. A classically trained vocalist from Skidmore College, Margo felt that, “gaining the confidence to perform only original material was my goal in coming to Texas. It’s a mecca for original tunes and supportive, intelligent audiences.” Her songs, Mama Don’t Know and Miriam got her into the 2009 Wildflower Festival Songwriting Competition as a top ten finalist and her performance garnered her in a winning slot, certainly making a name for herself in Texas. As she continues to play weekly gigs in Austin, Margo’s goals are to keep writing for a second full-length album and working with her amazing band.
Margo Valiante’s latest recording, I Can’t Pray, is her first release since 2008. The new EP was recorded with famed Austin guitarist Rich Brotherton (Robert Earl Keen), keyboardist Riley Osbourn and her Austin-based band in just a few days at Brotherton’s South Austin studio, Ace Recording. Margo gives her audience a sense of her new approach to songwriting and a taste of her ever-evolving vocal sound. I Can’t Pray features four new songs written in the six months preceding the recording session in Nov 2009, the fifth track is a re-recording of her award-winning piece, Mama Don’t Know that made it’s debut album her album New Blue. Margo hopes this track will represent to her old fans how she has grown, while at the same time gaining momentum with a new fan base in the Live Music Capital of the World.
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