A Conversation with Maia Sharp (continued)

PM: So is your biggest cut so far the Dixie Chicks co-write with your dad?

MS: That's my biggest cut so far. But the Bonnie Raitt cuts are on its heels.

PM: Have you and your dad written a bunch of songs together?

MS: Yes, we have.

PM: There's got to be a different twist to that process, right?

MS: Yeah, but he's just a great writer. I mean, it's just always a good experience with him. It doesn't feel funny at all that we're family.

PM: It's just two co-writers.

MS: Yeah. And we think so much alike, because I learned so much from him, that we usually see things the same way. We like the same things, we don't like the same things.

PM: Right. I've seen a couple of notable songwriters get up and play a horn of various kinds, but never somebody as badass as you are on the saxophone.

MS: Thank you.

PM: Do you also play tenor or alto?

MS: Tenor was my first one. And I would be bringing the tenor along, but more for the ease of the show, the soprano is really easy to set up and easy to grab, and it stays playable longer, you don't have to keep the reed wet so much.

PM: Oh, I didn't know that.

MS: Or if it has to sit there for a time, if I only get to play it on one or two songs, it's ready to go. And that's why I chose soprano.

PM: Interesting. As busy as you are, do you find any time to read?

MS: Yeah. I sure try. One of my New Year's resolutions is always be reading. So I've been in the middle of a book that I started in January.

[laughter]

MS: I try. It's just so hard to find the time, but yeah.

PM: Anything that you're reading that's turning you on, or this, "Well, it turns me on if I can get to it once in a while."

MS: Yeah. I really like it, if I can get to it. It's the story about the Wicked Witch of West.

PM: Really?

MS: Yeah.

PM: What do you mean, the character or the legend, or what?

MS: It's a book about her childhood.

PM: Do you mean the woman who played the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz?

MS: No. Somebody wrote the back story to the Wicked Witch of the West--

PM: Oh, my.

MS: --up until we see her in The Wizard of Oz. It's brilliant.

PM: Wow. Oh, I got to go get that.

MS: Yeah. It's by Gregory Maguire. It's called Wicked: the Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West.

PM: Holy jeez.

MS: And it's total fantasy, obviously.

PM: Yeah.

MS: But it's not connected to the movie. It's following her from before--it follows her from her family before she was born up until The Wizard of Oz.

PM: [laughs]

MS: And she's this very likable smart young woman, whose skin is green.

[laughter]

MS: Yeah, it's really great.

PM: Are you what you would call a spiritual person?

MS: That's a tough one, because the Lord has gotten out of hand a little bit.

PM: [laughs]

MS: It's Good Friday today.

PM: That's a funny answer.

MS: I would think I am, but on my own brand of it.

PM: Lastly, I'll ask you: With whom would you like to write that you've not had the good fortune to yet?

MS: I'd love to write with the Chicks. Sheryl Crow someday, that'd be a blast. Rodney Crowell, Radney Foster, they would be good.

PM: Cool. Yeah, that's right off the top of your head.

MS: Yeah.

PM: Well, thanks a lot, Maia. I know you've got a busy day ahead--

MS: Well, thank you, Frank. Thanks for the feature.

PM: You bet. And I look forward to getting to know you better, and hope to see you again when you come to town.

MS: Me too, take care.

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