Everyone loves a good musical earworm, the kind of song you just can’t escape no matter how hard you try. You find yourself humming it while cleaning, mysteriously singing the lyrics while driving along in your car, and breaking into a full two-step every time you hear the song come on, no matter how tired you were just moments before. Well, Bay Area singer-songwriter Meaghan Maples has delivered me into such sweet torture, and I’m grateful to her for it.
Fresh off the pressing of her debut album, Good Reasons, released this May 19th, the multiple movements of “Feet on the Ground” make it kind of a hard song to peg into any particular genre. Maples’ lightly raspy alto has the warm body of soul. Jarel Paguio’s piano opening and Maples’ sensitive reading suggests a ballad. But then that rhythm section kicks in at 1:17 and it takes on a head-bobbing mid-tempo groove with Julius Obregon’s guitar, and then another minute in the mood has changed again and we’re in light disco territory with Tyler Carroll’s bass. And, those strings at the bridge? Yasssss!
Produced by Bedrock, Justin Wright, and Maples herself, this cut is a perfect introduction to the kind of music Meaghan Maples performs on the ten tracks of Good Reasons. Maples, who wrote both the lyrics and music, never resorts to vocal histrionics to strongly prove her case in this relatable tale of a woman who has learned love’s hard knocks lessons. Nah, she’s good, son: “If I’m looking for a free fall/I’ll find you/This woman’s good on the ground.” This is a hook that love’s battle worn completely get. Accordingly, Meaghan Maples is an artist we get too.
By L. Michael Gipson
