Maya Lane and Megan Linford in captivating acoustic performances

St. John’s Church in Gosport, UK, has recently been converted into a wonderful live music venue by Quay West Studios, and it was the perfect setting for two rising stars of modern folk pop to captivate the crowd, Maya Lane and Megan Linford.

Maya Lane is a 19 year old singer-songwriter from London, who released her first EP Childish Games earlier this year. The EP of four songs is very well produced and it was interesting to see how this would translate to a live setting with just Maya on vocals and acoustic guitar. Flippin’ beautifully was the answer. Despite her young age, Maya has been performing for many years and this was evident with a show full of poise, grace and modest confidence. It’s an overused cliche that the room fell quiet, but literally, the room became utterly silent as she delivered her first vocal, completely captivating the audience with her voice.

Maya had time for just a seven song set, definitely leaving the crowd wanting more, including a cover of “The Chain” by Fleetwood Mac. She played two songs from her debut EP, “Closing Down” and “When You Need Me”, the latter she told us was written about wanting to take care of her younger sister, but gives a general message of wanting to look after each other.

Even though Maya was new to many in the crowd, hearing her originals for the first time, she was totally captivating and the audience remained silent throughout the songs with loud appreciative clapping for each. Highlights included “Bump Into Me” and “I Don’t Know You Yet”, both unreleased originals.

Maya looked stunning in flowing dress and sheer top, but told us she was missing the cowboy boots tonight. Unsurprising for this authentic folk-country inspired artist. She did however say she’s just released her first merchandise, a charming set of stickers, given out free at the show, featuring Maya’s logo and of course cowboy boots.

Maya‘s vocals were frankly rather stunning in the large church venue, and with many new originals waiting to be released, we are very excited to see what comes next for this upcoming artist.

Megan Linford, accompanied by her band, also sounded incredible in the church venue, with her original songs mixing folk, Americana, roots and soul. She treated the audience to an eight song set of originals, including her latest release “All in Good Time”, which incidentally has a cool 70’s inspired music video to check out.

Megan is a very accomplished musician, her skills on acoustic guitar evident throughout the show, with her heavenly, soulful-folk voice filling the church venue. Special mention to Sam Weeks on cajon, depping at the last minute, never having played with the band before, and with no time for rehearsals; the four-piece, including Benjamin Reid on keys and Jack Beech on bass, sounded superb together.

A highlight was her last song “Lessons”, dedicated to the memory of Megan’s good friend, Ellie Day. This is a very personal song and was performed beautifully with tangible emotion. A music video of this song is also worth seeking out, featuring video and images of Megan‘s family and of Ellie.

Megan is currently working on a new project with friends in London, creating live recordings of some of her newer original songs, being released in the next few months. We can’t wait.