Local Musicians Band Together to Put Maine Music on the Map With Homegrown Soundtracks
PORTLAND, ME — A group of local musicians in Portland have started The Maine Embassy, currently a digital music hub with the mission of providing a comprehensive listing of live Maine music across all genres, promoting and exposing the talent in Maine, and cultivating a more vibrant musical culture in Portland and beyond.
Dan Boyden, Portland native and ambassador for The Maine Embassy, has spearheaded their most current project, calling on fellow musician “ambassadors” to curate Spotify playlists featuring Maine music of all genres. A number of the playlists are live on Spotify now. Playlists include “The Listening Room Playlist” curated by Maine-based touring folk musician Connor Garvey, “The Garbage of Your Life: A Very HOT TRASH: Portland Playlist” curated by Victoria Karol of HOT TRASH, and the “All Roads Music Festival 2019 Playlist” curated by Beam, Boyden, and Portland singer/songwriter Katie Matzell. The All Roads playlist comes in advance of this year’s All Roads Music Festival on May 17 and 18 in Belfast, which celebrates Maine and indie music.
Boyden is better known as the drummer for some of Portland’s most beloved bands: Model Airplane, Gina & the Red Eye Flight Crew, and The Jason Spooner Band. He also tours nationally with Sister Sparrow & the Dirty Birds.
“I became an ambassador for this project because I wanted to help tell the story of Maine music. Digging through its past and its present, to find out what musicians are making, to create a way for people to find, connect to easily, and support local music, and to tie the different musical communities together on a platform with universal distribution “— Dan Boyden
The goal of The Maine Embassy’s Spotify Playlist Project is to call on local businesses to engage with the local music scene by playing these compilations of Maine-made music in their restaurants, shops, and events statewide to provide an even larger audience for Maine musicians’ music to be heard.
Several other playlists will become available on Spotify in the coming weeks and months. You can follow and find all the playlists at https://themaineembassy.com/playlists/
The Maine Embassy was launched officially in September 2018 when Jeff Beam, local musician and programming director at One Longfellow Square, released a re-creation of The Beatles’ White Album, named The Beatles 1968/Portland ME 2018, recorded by 30 Maine musicians in honor of the 50th anniversary of the original release.
More collaborative projects are on the horizon to bring the Maine music community together and inspire others to keep collaborating, producing and showcasing local talent.
We are Rad Plaid. Portland’s Live Local Music Calendar. Signup free for tailored live music experiences, local music updates, and exclusive ticket giveaways.
