Hometown: Birmingham, AL

Location: Los Angeles, CA

Bio: The first time Maria Taylor's graceful voice was heard through our speakers, we knew it was love at first listen. On Azure Ray's 2001 debut, she sang with a knowledge and a weariness that made us trust and believe her words, fragile tones fragmented through soft acoustic strumming and velvety textures.

Skip forward four short years later to when Maria set off on her own for a while, resulting in the stunning solo album called 11:11. A critical smash that wrapped her now-familiar voice in everything from acoustic folk to electronic dream pop, the album established Maria as a master storyteller with a flare for perfect, harmony-soaked melodies. To follow up a stunning debut, Maria put together another glimmering collection of songs in the shape of her second solo record, Lynn Teeter Flower.

LadyLuck, Taylor's third solo effort, is about "personal growth and the change that comes with it," she says. Much of the album was written as Taylor was preparing for a move (to Los Angeles) and immediately after arriving. "This change in my life was so so needed," she says, "that, whereas lots of older songs have happy words but a sad undertone, these songs have sad words but with hopeful undertones of renewal."

Website: http://www.mariataylormusic.com/

Listen/Purchase

iTunes: Maria Taylor

Label page: http://saddle-creek.com/mariataylor/