Songwriter and recording artist, Vickie Maris, based in Indiana, wrote Extra Steps (Donkey Christmas Song) when she was asked to provide music for an event at Christmas Eve.

While out in the barn doing the chores on her Connemara pony farm on a snowy day, she got inspired to write a song that would narrate how Joseph might have interacted with the donkey who provided a ride to Mary on the journey to Bethlehem. 

While it isn't known whether a donkey was a part of the scene or not, she used artistic license to…

Daydreams was written without a guitar, or any musical instrument in hand, however, we usually perform it with my band members rockin' the house on guitars, keyboard, sax, bass and drums!

But, for the 2023 NPR Tiny Desk Contest video, I chose a simple, acoustic approach to my submission video. My hubby, songwriter/guitarist/entertainer Scott Greeson, joined me for the Daydreams video. You'll see and hear him holding down the rhythm and covering the guitar lead work as well as harmony vocals. 

Thank you for…

As a musician, it always sparks joy to see that a listener in Spotify has added one (or more) of my songs to a playlist they are curating. It is helpful to other potential listeners as they seek music to collect for their own Spotify libraries and playlists.

Listening to music in a playlist is a great way to enjoy music without having to take additional action after initially clicking the play button!

Here are a few other perks to listening to music via a playlist in Spotify:

• you can collect songs in a group…

"Three generations of women! Three singer-songwriters! Three women who love to rock a stage with their bands."

Justice Fuller, Lauren Grace and Vickie Maris will be sharing original songs in a songwriter-in-the-round. It takes place on Dec. 9, 2022, at 7:30 pm, at The Arts Federation, 638 North Street, Lafayette, Ind. 

Both Grace and Maris have recently released new music that the audience will hear during the concert. 

New singles by Lauren Grace:

Lingering (link to the song in Spotify)

Small Towns (Spotif…

Another Universe is the title of the solo album released Sept. 28, 2022, by recording artist and singer-songwriter Vickie Maris, an entertainer based out of Indiana in the USA. 

Maris’ songwriting slides across several music genres from soft pop to singer-songwriter to soft jazz to contemporary country and Americana. 

Her fans mention similarities in her vocal stylings to that of Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders, Karen Carpenter, Shania Twain and Alanis Morissette. 

Maris plays acoustic guitar and piano…

Outdoors - it's a great location for songwriting.

I’m fascinated with how the birds join in when I’m trying out a new melody.

If I stop mid-phrase to re-sing a line or to change a word, or to try another key, the birds pause their singing and then re-start when I re-start. It’s as if their bliss in making sound stems from collaboration with another being who is making sound.

Bliss is a word I use to describe playing music with the band. It's also a feeling that goes along with being in the company of birds…

I was on the eighth version of lyrics and melody for the song, Mourning Dove, when I watched a video clip in Facebook of a guitar instrumental that Scott Greeson was working on while enjoying a fishing trip in Minnesota.

He didn't know that I had been writing Mourning Dove or that I hadn't been happy with the early versions of lyrics or melodies for the song.

It turned out that his instrumental song fit my latest lyrics perfectly! We were not aware that we were both working on a song at the time Mourning…

Another Universe, the first solo album by Indiana-based singer-songwriter Vickie Maris, released on Sept. 28, 2022.

The 11 track-disc is available in Amazon as a physical cd or as mp3 files. The songs are also available for downloading or streaming in all the major streaming services such as:

• Spotify, Pandora, Deezer, Apple Music, iTunes, YouTube, Reverbnation,
• .... and more.

The instrumentation for the album was done by recording engineer and producer, Michael Kelsey. He is also a cowriter with…