Wish by Mary Beth Maziarz

The college scene was glutted with emerging songwriters, but Mary Beth carved out a devoted fan base while playing a weekly residency at Tommy Nevins' Pub. Singing at the pub, also a home to Mary Beth's dubious waitress skills, allowed her to experiment with new material and develop a better rapport with audiences. (Patrons' drunkenness helped her nervousness.) A year at Oxford in England also brought more pub-playing opportunities; then, as now, British Sterling was hammering the dollar, so the little sing-for-her-supper gigs and attentive audiences really nourished the young performer.

After school, as her compatriots largely went off to find fame & fortune as actors in Hollywood or as number-crunchers at Arthur Anderson, MB announced she was moving Out West. . . to Utah, specifically - part-time home to movie stars, record moguls, and other fabulously connected people. The shi-shi ski-town of Park City proved the perfect spot to build her set list, meet fascinating people, and learn to schuss with the best of them. (Well, with the 'marginally managing' of them...there are a LOT of world-class skiers that live in Park City.) She began a longterm gig at the Riverhorse Café, a beautiful, upscale lemon-in-the-water restaurant on Main Street. The Riverhorse gave her music a high-profile place to grow in Park City and begin distributing her first two albums ("Something Real" and "Snowed In") as her performances there began to draw serious support from locals and glitterati visitors alike.

In 1999, Mary Beth's music caught the ears of producers of the popular tv show, "Dawson's Creek." They contacted her about featuring one of her songs, "Hold On," in the final scene of the Season Three Premiere. Everything changed. More of her songs were featured in the show. Other folks came a callin'. Fans wrote to her, clamoring for all the DC songs on one album. She listened, printing 200 CDs of the songs and demos that appeared on Dawson's Creek, calling the project "A More Perfect World." They sold out in nine days.

From there, she put out the shimmering "Goodnight, Goodnight" and continued to find her music in demand for tv shows (Party of Five, Everwood) and films (Broken Hearts Club, The Real Thing). Mary Beth also found herself performing at outdoor festivals, bigger club gigs, and upscale "house concerts"-- private concerts in ballrooms, outdoor stages, and music rooms around the country.

From there it was time for the fields to rest a bit. So she took her time with recording another project, letting the songs really find their core meanings. The rest proved helpful, as when she finally started getting antsy to record, the perfect producer appeared: Craig Poole. Poole's rock-solid rhythmic sensibility and love of sweet old-school funk/R&B brought a new energy and groove to the tracks. He also introduced Mary Beth to the magic of vintage keyboards, bringing in Rhodes, Wurlitzers, and other beaucoup beautiful sounds to the mix. And so, "Wish" was born.

The fourteen tracks on "Wish" represent five years of writing and an occasionally schizophrenic heart. (Thanks, Felice!) Themes of brand new love, discovery, separation, dreams, and recognition thread through this beautiful album. The range of styles is fascinatingly diverse (Susan Tedeschi to Aimee Mann, Anna Nalick to Karen Carpenter), but Mary Beth's writing (and singing) voice remains a lush constant. This album, from this insightful and soulful writer, is sure to become a soundtrack for many of life's most moving moments.

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