Maureen Koenig McFarlane                    Banjo

Carloyn Koenig Gleason                   Accordion

Kellie Nitz                                    Upright Bass

Sam Rhode                                             Guitar                                   

 

Formed in 2010 by sisters Carolyn Gleason and Maureen McFarlane, and rounded out by Kellie Nitz and Sam Rhode, Megonia started life as something of a tribute to traditional folk music, particularly that of the Appalachian region of the eastern United States. Initially intended to be a one-off performance, Megonia played its first show at the 2010 Basilica Block Party in Minneapolis. Afterward, the band looked, saw that it was good, and decided to continue. 

 

Over the next few years, Megonia played in and around the Twin Cities area, doing everything from bar gigs to weddings to prarie tours (all four members hail from South Dakota, incidentally) to fullblown church services. During this same period, the band began writing its own material, focussing initially on the same forms and themes found in the traditional music on which the band was founded: murder ballads, disaster songs, gospel music, faith, despair, love, and all the intersections thereof. Over time, the songs began to branch away from those roots, and the band's collective sound, defined by banjo/guitar/bass/accordion interplay, lush vocal harmonies, and vivid lyricism, truly took on a life of its own. 

 

It was eventually decided that an album should be recorded, and that's where the present finds Megonia, putting the finishing touches on a soon-to-be-released record (or CD or 8-track or whatever format is en vogue come the day). It will be a collection of songs that reflects both the band's roots and its forward aspirations, and also one that embodies the varying and contradictory themes of the sometimes dark, but always compelling, American narrative.