Another Universe is the debut solo album by Indiana-based singer-songwriter, Vickie Maris. The songs cross several genres from soft pop to soft jazz to singer-songwriter to Americana to contemporary country. Maris, who has primarily worked in supporting roles as a harmony vocalist / recording artist, accordionist and acoustic guitarist in the band, Scott Greeson and Trouble With Monday, had her songwriting doors opened when she added silence to her daily, morning routine in 2021.
One of the benefits she noticed was an outpouring of song lyrics and melodies, and an increased awareness of song hooks as they passed through her thoughts. She began capturing the lyric ideas and then added melodies. Within a few months, she had recorded the 11 songs for the album, Another Universe. She released five as song singles, Mourning Dove, South Bend, Is It Tomorrow, Daydreams, and Sanity's Edge prior to the album releasing on Sept. 28, 2022.
Her record producer and recording engineer, Michael Kelsey, touring guitarist and studio engineer based in Indianapolis, Indiana, was a cowriter on several of the songs. The two also collaborated on the album production with Maris' husband, singer-songwriter and entertainer Scott Greeson.
Greeson is a cowriter on South Bend and Mourning Dove of which Kelsey is also a cowriter.
Other musicians involved in the project include Mike Rojas, keyboard player in Nashville, Tennessee, who added piano and organ to three of the tracks. He worked with Matt Coles, recording engineer, who was in the studio at Compass Records in Nashville.
Courtney Von Drehle, touring musician and music educator who is a co-founder of the band, 3 Leg Torso, based out of Portland, Oregon, played the accordion track on Sanity's Edge.
Von Drehle is Maris' accordion coach and also a member of the music mastermind hosted by Maris which includes Greeson and Kelsey.
The harmony vocals of Lee Anna Atwell were recorded at REC Room Recording in Lafayette, Indiana by engineer Gibson Wells and sent to Kelsey to incorporate into the songs at his location, Michael Kelsey Music Production in Indianapolis, Ind.
Maris is working on new songs that she plans to release as singles prior to her next album.
