Bekkah McAlvage - Madrona (2022)

If you ask her, the only reason Bekkah McAlvage ever even took up the guitar in the first place was because her friends were in a country band and she needed something to do around the campfire at night while working on Forest Service wilderness trail crews. If you ask her friends from that country band, they claim they taught her 4 or 5 chords and saw her off for a summer of work and when she came back she had a couple dozen songs under her belt and had officially caught the music bug. Either way, it was the start of something couldn't be stopped and has only grown in depth over the years.

Initially focused on Americana-oriented singer-songwriter material, McAlvage eventually branched out into bluegrass and took deep dives into traditional American folk music as well as early country. She continued to write and play mainly as a duo with her singing partner, Sage Meadows, as The Maybe Sometimes.

McAlvage has periodically taken years off from playing in public, but she has never left her music behind. In addition to being a musician she is also a public school teacher. "The year or so going through grad school and then starting my teaching career was really hard core," she says. "I figured if I could make it through that, I could do just about anything. Playing music just for myself actually helped me through that period quite a bit. It's so cathartic."

In recent years, her music has led her back into the public sphere, playing music regionally from California through Oregon with various musical projects and as a solo performer. While her core remains bound to connecting with other musicians she meets and befriends through music, she also loves to connect with her audience through the shared experience of live performance.

When people talk about why they like her music, they talk about an energy to her singing and playing that is compelling, forceful even. Yet she is able to draw upon more tender topics as well, handling them with sensitivity and emotion.

Bekkah McAlvage currently performers solo, as a part of the old-time trio Bekkah and the Dusty Rubies, in the bluegrass band Waking Hazel, and as a duo with McAlvage & Fretwell.