Macie Stewart, in concert at The Salt Shed in Chicago on November 1, 2025.
Saturday certainly should be reserved for making discoveries and being quietly astonished. I have run Macie Stewart sessions before; most notably the one she did for Marc Riley at BBC 6 Music in 2022. It was there that I first made the discovery of this brilliant multi-talent, but it was also the place where I was reduced to tears, listening to Golden Boy, a song she wrote in memory of the school shootings that had plagued us over the year. That one song alone was devastating in its simplicity and understated message. But within the understatement came a sentiment that was so powerful that even Marc Riley confessed to getting choked up hearing it.
But Macie Stewart is like that. She has the gift and in her hands its an effortless gift. That she is so well versed in so many instruments just compounds the limitless reaches she can accomplish with a simple song – and even listening to this concert, subtle and devastating is just in her nature.
I had considered Macie Stewart to be something of a best-kept secret; a talent you don’t want to see get sidetracked and corrupted or watered down as so many artists who sign to labels eventually do. But I realized keeping this brilliant talent a secret would do, not only her but the potentially wider audience something of an injustice. She has a message that resonates with the human spirit – it knows no boundaries. She is exactly the artist we need right now.
She’s been touring, she’s been recording, she’s been collaborating – other artists want to work with her because she’s brilliant and it makes perfect sense.
All I know is; I’m keeping an ear peeled to the ground, hoping that any new concerts or gigs get recorded so I can share them with you. You really have to know Macie Stewart – we’re all so much better off for it.
In the meantime, press Play and enjoy.
