Originally from Lancaster, PA, Maya de Vitry is a Nashville-based artist whose music
blurs the lines of folk, indie rock, and Americana. An admirer of the dedicated song craft
of writers like John Prine, Gillian Welch, and Townes Van Zandt — and of the stirring
vocals of artists like Bonnie Raitt and Nina Simone — Maya de Vitry’s music invites
listeners into a space of openness and connection.
After a formative chapter with the roots-Americana trio The Stray Birds, she launched
her solo career with the 2019 album Adaptations, earning praise from Rolling Stone
Country, NPR Music, and No Depression. Since then, she has built a devoted following,
drawn to both her recordings and her powerful live performances. Known for her
magnetic voice and hard-won sense of purpose, Maya has toured in North America and
Europe, supporting artists like The Wood Brothers, Aoife O’Donovan, John Craigie, and
Mighty Poplar. Her songs have also appeared on albums by Molly Tuttle, Lindsay Lou,
and Steve Poltz, and her skills as a multi-instrumentalist and harmony singer have
contributed to many Nashville recordings.
Her fourth full-length release in just six years, The Only Moment, is a 10-track testament
to personal reinvention and creative growth. "I’m not just making different music now. It
feels like I’m breathing in a different atmosphere," she reflects on her evolution from The
Stray Birds to her solo journey. Her sense of liberation is especially apparent in her live
shows, which have become a space for spontaneity, peace, and freedom, often woven
together with personal stories that connect the songs. “After the show, I just want to
know if I’ve helped you feel more free,” Maya says. “That’s my unspoken agreement—to
myself, my bandmates, and everyone in the audience.”
Despite a seemingly relentless creative pace, the recording of The Only
Moment—produced by Maya and mixed by Grammy-winning engineer Justin Francis
(Madison Cunningham)—was deliberate and unhurried. “It was like making a long-
exposure photograph, but with music,” Maya explains, having allowed the songs to
breathe over the course of nearly three years. “I shelved this record for months at a
time, and each time I came back to it, I heard new possibilities. In today’s music
industry, there’s pressure to share everything, to turn our process into ‘content.’ But I
treasured keeping this record to myself and letting the songs simmer.”
