Margo Macero – Red Hot and Passionate
By Ree Miller on April 30, 2025
Margo Macero – Red Hot and Passionate – by Ree Miller.
I had the opportunity to meet with Margo Macero of Glens Falls, New York before her concert at White Lake Studios. We talked, laughed, and shared some life experiences. I found a thoughtful, engaging, driven, personable artist. She started young and has the musical pedigree of Berkley School of Music, competitions in The Voice and American Idol, and a couple of decades of dues paying. All those experiences give her a healthy pinch of seasoning, with an undaunted dash of exuberance leading to a record deal with White Lake Studios.
One thing that shines through is Macero’s own distinct vibe. Her M.O. allows her creativity to be open to influences, contributions, and co-writing from old and new artists, like Patsy Cline, Dave Brubeck, Lainey Wilson, and Melissa Etheridge; her friends and family, one of whom keeps numerous notebooks; and record label stablemates, Jocelyn and Chris Arndt. She is a multi-instrumentalist whose favorite is playing lead guitar. In the concert at White Lake, she put that on full display, along with her sometimes stirring, sometimes energetic voice and presence. Yup, she’s the whole package, tied with a red bow!
Her band consists of:
Margo Macero – Lead Guitar and vocals
Ben Zoleski – Guitar, backing vox
Marina Svrchek – Bass, backing vox
Tyrone Hartzog – Hammond Organ, backing vox
David Bourgeois – Drums (of White Lake Studios)
Tucked into a second/last row seat in the cozy White Lake Studios concert room, Macero exposed me and my ride along friend to a fourteen-song set in a variety of genres. A curated number of covers mixed in with her originals that demonstrated her guitar chops, strong vocal presence, and the sweet harmonies of her band mates. Jocelyn Arndt joined her on stage for “Knock on Wood.” This collaborative has a clever call and response section with Macero matching Arndt’s energy, vocal licks, and expertly sustained notes.
Her band of friends, assembled through friendships, found young and serendipitous meetups, supported Macero and still managed to shine, in their own light using properly placed guitar solos, vocal harmonics, and fillips of percussion. Looking forward to seeing them again, just to dissect their talents and contributions.
I don’t want to steal the thunder of the new album release, due out the end of 2025, so I will just list my top songs of the night:
#1 – “There Goes My Heart” – at first, I thought it reflected the influence of Bad Company, those recently RRHOF inductees (how spooky is that!), but thinking more about it, she actually channeled Paul Rodgers from his solo album, “Cut Loose.” Rodgers played all the instruments and vocal parts on that album and Macero mirrors that set of talents.
#2 – “Rest of my Life” – A country guitar flavored song, co-written by the Arndts and puts one in mind of Lainey Wilson. Who knew making eggs would be such an instigation to writing a song!
#3- “Other Side of Good-bye” – Brings me back to the Southern Rockers Rossington Collins with Macero’s vocals sounding like Dale Krantz, before she was Rossington! See if I’m right – go ahead!
#4 – “Hard Hitter” – a song paying homage to a strong mother, encouraging the strong woman to be. Harkens back to old country lesson songs written and sung by experienced women aimed at growing strong women.
Like many of us, Macero has had her brush with adversity and hard knocks. She bent those life events like she bends her guitar strings to her will and talent making them positive opportunities, demonstrating the real strength of a woman, or really any resilient person – turning the blues into her signature color RED for use by people everywhere.
Explore Marcero’s music and videos through the links below. She is also on the usual social media platforms.
Her next show is July 18th at Caffe Lena – tix available at Eventbrite
Official Website: www.margomaceromusic.com
Her videos can be found at youtube.com/@MargoMacero
֍֍֍
White Lake Studio has scheduled another three events in their Upstate Unplugged series – tix available at whitelake.eventbrite.com
- May 29th, Will Dailey from Boston, MA
- June 26th, King Kyote from Portland, ME
- July 31st, Remsen Social Club, Remsen, NY
Photo by Will Hahn / Bridge Road Entertainment
Continue reading
RadioRadioX