The Magic of Mae Klingler

There are quite a few people in this world I really admire for one reason or another. I wrote about George last week, and there are already girls knocking down his door, which doesn't make his girlfriend too happy (sorry ladies). Mae is a singer/songwriter who lived in Athens until a year or so ago. I didn't officially meet her until she was playing in Athens again a few weeks ago. That was actually only the second time I had heard her play. The first was about three years ago, when I totally fell in love with her music. This last time I picked up a copy of her latest demo CD and it's been playing almost non-stop in my car since then. As a songwriter, she has a way with words - with poetry really - that takes me to another place. It's not always a bright sunny place, but it's always a very different place from the rush of life that I'm usually in transit from/to in my car. You can hear her musical magic for yourself at the Manasseh Records website. You can hear Route 66 there, which is one of my favorites because it transports me to a place I frequently dream of but have never traveled to. Someday, I'm going to rent a convertible and take a long drive down Route 66 with this song cranked up to 11. You can also see her live on June 2 at the St. James Tavern in Columbus.