Margo Macero – An Xperience Interview

Margo Macero – An Xperience Interview – by Liam Sweeny.

In blues guitar, there are two things that can give me a thrill or a chill, or maybe both. One is a blistering, rapid-fire solo, and the other is the cry and wail of a single note. You don’t have to listen to Margo Macero for very long before you’ll hear both. A veteran of The Voice and American Idol, Margo will be performing at Putnam Place on September 19^th.

RRX: September 19th, you’re gonna be playing with Shannon Tehya and the Troupe. Tell me a little bit about that because it’s not just like a standard concert.

MM: We have a really cool band here that has recently learned pretty much all of my original music that I’ve co-written with Jocelyn and Chris. That’s going to be on an upcoming debut record. And we’ve been launching these shows, and we thought it would be really cool to have Shannon and the Troupe on there and kind of blast the theme around it. So we want it to be a very empowering concert feel and also just kind of like communication between the audience and the music where we’re all kind of unified and we’re just representing women’s voices and empowerment and confidence and bravery and a loose kind of night out, you know what I mean? It’s gonna be really special, and I’m so stoked because I’m finally performing full original music sets. So this is kind of like a sneak peek at what will be coming on the records. It’s not out yet, and it won’t be out until next year, so we’re gonna be hitting these runs where we’re gonna give everybody a little piece of it, and we’re getting really comfortable with it along the way, too. We’re having a lot of fun, and it’s gonna be a blast. So I highly encourage anyone and everyone to be there. We’re all gonna be just making music and lifting each other up, and it’s in the heart of Saratoga, my favorite place.

RRX: You opened the door about your debut album. So give us a little taste of what we’re talking about here. What’s gonna be on it? What were you thinking when you decided to take on that endeavor?

MM: I’ll kind of backtrack a little bit here. I released an EP when I was about 17 years old. It was kind of a personal thing with me and my dad. And ever since then, I’ve been writing music, but I’ve never felt like I had a breakthrough moment where the songs were representing my inner voice, and with the guitar playing and the energy levels. I went through a lot of different styles of music. It’s kind of like soul searching for a decade, and it wasn’t until I started playing about 120 shows a year that I got into writing a couple of songs where I’m like, OK, this feels good. It’s shifting in a way where I’m onto something, you know? And I brought David (Bourgeoise) a couple of songs that I had been progressively, like, singing out that were originals, and he’s like, ‘This is great, let’s run with this,’ and I signed with him in 2023. And ever since then, it happened so quickly. Jocelyn and Chris, they kind of came on board with me. They’re like, ‘Let’s make this happen and let’s make it powerful and cohesive.’ So it’s a very cohesive record and it’s very much based along the lines of – and this can be open for interpretation – rock, country, blues. But there’s a lot of electric guitar. There’s a lot of power. I’m running with a theme on the album of the color red. So it’s passion, power, heat, heartbreak, just making your mark, and that’s what this album is all about. And it’s very cohesive in that sense where I feel connected to every song and every song kind of connects with the other, each track. It’s telling a story. So I’m really stoked about it, man. I’m really proud of it. Jocelyn and Chris are awesome too, so it’s gonna be special.

RRX: You come from a very musical tradition with your uncle, who was a renowned record producer, a who’s who with jazz: Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Ella Fitzgerald, a ton more. I hate to ask people, ‘Well, what’s it like,’ because I think this is the stupidest thing you can ask somebody as an interviewer. But in this case, let me say my uncle gave me socks for Christmas, OK? So go. What was the dynamic like with you and your uncle?

MM: So there’s actually a total story. My grandfather had a restaurant in Glens Falls, New York, and it was called Macero’s Bar. And Teo is, is my grandfather’s brother. It was a very, very popular restaurant where Count Basie would play, Gene Krupa went up there and played, and Teo would take these quick trains, if you will, down to New York and bring back these folks that were super, legendary musicians. But I was a baby in a handbasket, so I didn’t really know what was going on. But the cool thing about that is that my dad transferred a lot of that music to me. He’s extremely talented, too, and he grew up in that restaurant scene where he got to see, like, Gene Krupa play, and he knew a lot about what was going on. So, for me, growing up hearing the stories, I was 7 when I wanted a guitar, and I wanted an airplane, and it was kind of bizarre, but my dad got me a guitar, and I stuck with it. The more I stuck with it, it brought me out into the public, I guess you could say, and people would tell me all these wild stories about Teo and my grandfather’s bar and all the acts that would go there and my dad and how he would tour and play drums and stuff. And I guess I just learned a lot by word of mouth. And then one day, I decided to look into it, and it was a whole window of ‘wow, this is actually pretty crazy.’ So it’s very inspirational to me. I don’t talk about it much because I want people to also understand that if they hear the word ‘Macero,’ I’m a totally different thing, on a totally different path, but it doesn’t mean that I don’t draw inspiration from it.

RRX: You burned the trail through popular culture with successful appearances on shows like The Voice and American Idol. And there are people who draw, like, a line between musicians who get noticed on those shows versus musicians who get regular shows and work gigs. You’ve been on both sides of this. How different is American Idol from playing in the same place for a while, like some kind of residency? What would be the difference between those, in your opinion?

MM: It is a dramatic difference for sure. But I think for me, it’s a little bit more personal. I try to just be myself and not worry so much about what the room looks like or where I am, if that makes sense. I play and I sing because it’s kind of how I literally live my life day by day. That’s what I do every day, and it’s been that way for over 20 years. The chemistry of something that’s much larger caliber versus something, if I was kind of thinking outside myself, I would say that there’s so much more criticism. There’s so much going on when it gets to a bigger level like that. I pull myself back in, and I think of the smaller places when I’m there, you know what I mean? You kind of remind yourself of why you’re doing it all the time; it regenerates itself. I love bigger stages, don’t get me wrong. I had this dream for a long time that I performed at the Super Bowl, and I woke up and I had to make coffee, and I was in a super small apartment, and I’m like, OK. I really try to stay as organic as possible in any given situation, but I would say for anyone out there, just be you, and just go and take any opportunity and get the experience and meet people and talk to people, and learn. I’m a big person who wants to learn all the time. Like I tell my manager, I wanna be able to take home something at the end of the day, no matter where I am, no matter what I do, that I’ve learned something from someone else.

Photo credit: Robert Dungan.

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