Inspired by Brandi Carlile and Phoebe Bridgers, Milwaukee's Allison Mahal marks own path
New York, Los Angeles, Nashville, Atlanta, Austin, Texas.
These are the primary hubs for aspiring musicians trying to "make it" in America.
But Allison Mahal is proof you don't need to move to one of those music cities to make waves.
The 28-year-old singer-songwriter lived in Nashville, loves Nashville. But after graduating from Belmont University, where she studied music, the Illinois native — encouraged by her parents to take a risk — is having the greatest success of her career making music in Milwaukee.
"In Nashville, it was harder to be seen," Mahal told the Journal Sentinel.
"I was missing a lot of big moments back home … and I was doing long distance with my now fiancé — at the time, he was in Chicago," Mahal said. "We knew we wanted to bridge the gap between our distance. ... When he suggested Milwaukee, I said, 'Sure, why not? I don't know really anything about this town, (but) I know I want to be in more of a walking city. ... I wanted something with just a little more grit and spirit."
"I was terrified to make the jump, but I am so glad I did," she continued. "Milwaukee has been the warmest embrace — the people here, the music community. They have a huge indie spirit here, and they just champion the little guy. ... It just has been the best being here for three years."
Mahal's piercing, poignant sophomore album "Allie" — driven by storytelling-centric songs and slice-of-life lyrics — made the Journal Sentinel's list of 10 best Milwaukee albums of 2024. With glowing praise from other area publications and radio stations, Mahal is playing the biggest shows of her career, including two landmark festivals in her adopted home state.
Mahal's talent, and her journey, made her a perfect artist to spotlight in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's first contribution to Paste BN Acoustic, a series spotlighting up-and-coming music talent across America. Mahal joins other rising Paste BN Acoustic artists like Maddox Batson and Laundry Day, and you can see Mahal perform three original songs and sit down for an interview at jsonline.com/music.
How it began
Outgoing as a child, Mahal remembers listening in on her older sister's piano lessons thinking, "I want to do that." When her father got her a guitar for her 12th birthday, "that blossomed into even more songwriting," she said.
But it was one experience in particular that made her realize music was her destiny.
"My mom took me to see Brandi Carlile when I was in high school or middle school," Mahal recalled. "It was my first time seeing an artist I looked at and was like, 'I want to do what she's doing. I want to sing harmonies and I want to be with the band and I want to sing my story.' She really inspired me to keep at songwriting."
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Inspired by Carlile, Mahal leaned into folk and country with her early songwriting. "But then when I went to college in Nashville — I went to Belmont — I started listening to Phoebe Bridgers and Sharon Van Etten and Angel Olsen," she said, adding that indie artist Samia is "probably my favorite songwriter of all time, my favorite lyricist."
"Those artists fall into sometimes folk, sometimes indie rock, but no matter what, the story is at the center, at its core," Mahal explained. "I really gravitated toward those lyricists. I realized I wanted to say the same thing. I wanted to write stories that were autobiographical but didn't necessarily paint you a picture from point A to point B."
Mahal continued: "My favorite songs are songs that weave in different stories to tell something greater, fragments of my life, flashbacks, present day. I think those have the most meaning to me."
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"Acting My Age," from Mahal's sublime sophomore album "Allie," encapsulates what makes her such a magnetic artist. In the song, Mahal looks back at the life she lived, a life that's no longer hers, filled with personal stories to give it perspective and heart, but written with broad enough strokes that any listener can slip into its sentiment and feel what Mahal is feeling.
"I was at my parents' house around Christmas break … sitting on my childhood bed," Mahal recalled. "There's something about being in your parents' house and being back home and feeling like you're kind of crawling into the same skin as who you were when you were 16, 18.
"I left Illinois when I was 18 and moved to Nashville," she continued. "Looking back now at 28 a decade later, I realized just how much I left behind and how quickly I wanted to start over at just 18. All those feelings of being back in high school and the relationships I had let fizzle out or walked away from or maybe had just outgrown were coming back and creeping in my mind."
"That line, ‘Take me to that place where you called me Allie and I can start over,' was kind of the first thing that came to mind, and the rest just flooded out of me."
You can watch a performance of "Acting My Age" for Paste BN Acoustic at jsonline.com/music, and two other songs: "Mustangs" ("The first song that I wrote as a songwriter that I felt really proud of," Mahal said) and a new song yet to be recorded, "The Knife," that "captures where I am presently in my life," Mahal said.
What's next
Mahal feels she's in her "writing season right now" for an album she hopes to record at her new house outside Milwaukee in Franklin.
But accolades for "Allie" have led to some new booking milestones for Mahal and her band, including Appleton's popular Mile of Music festival in August and a headlining slot at Summerfest in Milwaukee, one of America's largest music festivals, with performances at 5:30 and 7:30 p.m. June 28 at the Johnsonville Summerville stage.
"That felt like a huge win," Mahal said of her impending Summerfest debut.
Contact Piet at (414) 223-5162 or plevy@journalsentinel.com. Follow him at facebook.com/PietLevyMJS.