In every sense, Maygen & The Birdwatcher has celebrated 2024—a leap year that slightly stretches time—by building upon the multi-faceted work they’ve done in the last few years.

Coming off two 2023 wins from Midwest Country Music Organization—one for their video performance of “Where Good Things Grow,” which they recorded as part of their contribution to the efforts of non-profit South Dakota Grasslands Coalition to raise awareness of the importance of these precious ecosystems—this band of eclectic musicians combines entertainment values with music that’s firmly rooted in folk and country. Maygen & The Birdwatcher also garnered the 2023 Entertainer of the Year award from Midwest CMO for their work ethic and their commitment to the music community and fanbase.

Maygen & The Birdwatcher took that philosophy on the road for their 2024 Leap Year Tour, running February through October, traveling across the United States to new cities far and wide—giving their increasing number of fans the opportunity to join in on the live-show experience and hear their latest music.

About their latest music: The group led by singers and songwriters Maygen Lacey and Noah Neumann did indeed take advantage of 2024’s extra time by recording a collection of songs they have had on their hearts for a year—a deeper, more contemplative combination of lyrics, and explorations of sound. Released August 2, it’s a set of six songs called, appropriately enough, Leap Year. They recorded in the dead of winter, in Cleveland, Minnesota with engineer and ace guitarist musician Erik Koskinen, at his Real-Phonic Records. Leap Year is a pause and a breath before Maygen & The Birdwatcher move into another level of their musical journey next year.

The music on Leap Year examines real-life issues—the feeling of being unsafe, unloved, and invisible in today’s American society. “Right Where You Belong,” the third single track from Leap Year, was inspired by Mark Laita’s Soft White Underbelly YouTube channel. As she says, Maygen Lacey was touched by the many stories of people—mostly as young children—who “just never had a person or a place where they can feel safe, or a place where they can just breathe and be themselves.”

Soft White Underbelly goes beneath the comfortable surfaces of American life. “It’s about people who are frequently invisible in society—the unhoused, the sex worker, the chronic drug user, the runaway, the gang member, the poor and the sick,” Maygen says. “We have all been there at one time or another. Some of us are still there, searching for relief from the depths of feeling out of place, or misunderstood. ‘Right Where You Belong’ is a gentle reminder that you deserve to find that place. Whether it be in community, in your mind, or elsewhere—it’s where you feel safe and at peace.” 

With two different lead singers and an ensemble of multi-talented band members, Maygen & The Birdwatcher feel compelled to push the boundaries of their songwriting and musical arrangements. Noah Neumann’s “Jericho” harks back to stories his father told him growing up. It looks through the eyes of a farm kid who’s trying to make sense of it all. It’s about the ups and downs that come with spending your life working the land in the sun, as the lyrics so poignantly personify. With Neumann’s melancholy baritone vocals, “Jericho” shows off the band’s playing and arranging skills.

Leap Year includes the two reimagined Moonshine tracks. “Full Moons (Leap Year Session)” and “Antidote (Leap Year Session)” take on new colors via minimalist but deep arrangements. Maygen Lacey: “Noah and I wanted to re-release these two tracks in a more stripped-down style, really emphasizing the acoustic renditions and vocals in their purest form. We always dreamt of what ‘Antidote’ would sound like on piano, and Noah doesn’t get many opportunities to play it, so this was a very fitting record to explore that vision.”

Leap Year is about vision, and as always with Maygen & The Birdwatcher, it’s about innovation, vision and the beauty of a band that listens. The band fills out the sonic details, with multi-instrumentalist Nik Pellinen adding banjo and lap steel, bassist Chase Rabideau, who rounds out the bottom, mandolin player Jesse Moravec, who also contributes vocals, fiddle player Evin Haukos, and drummer-percussionist Peter Anderson. Together they create a new take on bluegrass-folk-country. It’s a hyphenated hybrid that can come only from a seasoned—and tightly knit—band.

“The rich vocals of Maygen Lacey and Noah Neumann weave effortlessly and seamlessly throughout each of the songs. The tight musicianship of their bandmates provides wonderfully distinct contributions that combine to add a full sonic tapestry supporting the lyrics.” —Americana HIghways