Maggie Koerner is a force of grace to be reckoned with. You’ve probably seen her on tour with Galactic, at Tipitina’s with her friends The Revivalists, or on stage performing her own hauntingly beautiful tracks off of her 2013 album Neutral Ground. Koerner dazzles audiences with her ease on stage and a voice that naturally transcends from one genre to the next. Continue reading to hear about her plans for 2016 and don’t miss her show, tonight at One Eyed Jacks, performing with hometown favorites, Cardinal Sons.

L4LM: You’ve worked with some amazing local artists in the past few years from Galactic to The Revivalists and you’ll be sharing the stage with Cardinal Sons this weekend at One Eyed Jacks…is there anyone you are dying to play with that you haven’t yet?

MK: Oh yeah, I have dreams. I have a whole list on my iPhone notes of like 20 people I want to work with, Kendrick Lamar to name one. I got to see him at Pemberton Festival…I got to see him in such a light, such a moment, I’m still riding the high from that show. Shaky Graves, David Shaw…we’ve worked together but we still have dreams of writing an album together. I’ve written a lot of songs with the Cardinal Sons lately. My best friend is Kristen Diable–we’ve just started writing music together.

If you just put yourself out there you really can make something happen. For instance, I had always wanted to work with Fink, who is one of my favorite singer/songwriters. I swindled his email from a friend in the south of France while on vacation with Kristen Diable and I emailed him and got no response. So about a year later I emailed him again and he emailed me back and now he is producing and writing on my new album which I’ll release in 2016. So sometimes if you just put yourself out there you can really make your dreams come true.

L4LM: You have such a strong, captivating presence on stage–you always look like you’re having a blast. Do you have any preshow rituals?

MK: No not at all…I’ve just been like a mama duck trying to get all of her ducks in a row. Trying to make sure everyone has the set list, my guitar is tuned. These are all problems that one day a tour manger will handle and I’ll be sitting in my tour bus and I’ll come up with some ritual then. But until then I’m just trying to make sure everything is as prepared as humanly possible. I don’t like to get on stage unprepared…if it’s a Maggie Koerner show there’s a level I want to get to. As the songs are happening I really just try to step into them and feel it. I don’t even know what’s going on. I’m scared if I try and dissect it, or if I watch videos of myself then I’ll become aware of what I do on stage and it will come off as contrived. I really just try and feel each song and do it justice—most of the songs are songs I wrote, you know?

L4LM: There’s a lot of passion and heartfelt lyrics in Neutral Ground. Listening to the album is almost nostalgic…your lyrics are so authentic and relatable. What is your creative process like for writing? It is a pretty powerful skill you have…

MK: For Neutral Ground…the headspace I was in while writing that album…well I had just moved to New Orleans from Shreveport, Louisiana. I was free, I was like holy shit–nobody knows me. I went crazy in this controlled environment. I moved to New Orleans because every time I visited I felt this very strange nostalgic feeling that I had been there before. I started reading about past lives a lot when I first moved to New Orleans, hence the Neutral Ground music video is about reincarnation. So I was going through some dark fucked up shit when I first moved here but I was having a blast!

I think my creative writing process at the time was sitting in my Marigny house drinking and smoking and just sat at home alone in the wee hours of the night and just wrote. This upcoming album is so much different than that. There’s still that haunting soulfulness to my music that is always prevalent in my songs. But these songs are different. I wrote with Fink and co-writing, co-writing, co-writing because, OK, maybe I was feeling a little less dark and maybe I was feeling happier and more settled. I’m growing up–I’m in my late 20s–so I really started co-writing with people and WOW! You put two brains together, you put two hearts together, and you can really write some incredible stuff. This album is still Maggie Koerner but as my friend Kristen Diable will say, it’s like Maggie Koerner 2.0. It still sounds like me but also it can still be widely received, and that’s what I want. I want to be able to tour all over the world and reach all kinds of ears.

L4LM: What do the next few months look like? Any artistic New Years resolutions?

MK: The rest of the year I am CHILLIN’! (laughs) I’m in my home, I’m rerecording vocals. Yeah, I feel like this is the calm before the storm. The hopeful storm if you will. I have a lot of high hopes for myself in 2016. 2015 was about writing and letting myself be quiet. I’m hoping 2016 is a year of reaching bigger and bigger audiences. Any resolutions I might have…I guess just to stay on the path that I’m on. Stay grounded, stay grateful, stay happy.

L4LM: We want to conclude in kind of a fun way. I have some rapid-fire questions just give me the first thought that comes to mind…

Favorite style icon?

Carrie Bradshaw.

Favorite restaurant in New Orleans?

Pizza Delicious.

Drink of choice?

Coffee (Americano)

Early bird or night owl?

Both (laughs) I can go either way on this one.

Best song to get dressed/ready to?

Hmm. I always just have vinyl on Funkadelic, Kendrick Lamar, Bon Iver…I have such a random mix of everything.

Thank you!