BAM Column: Multi-talented Megan Mullins deserves to see her star rise
Megan Mullins smiles on the red carpet of last month’s CMT Music Awards. (Associated Press photo)
From Tuesday’s Life section of The Oklahoman.
Musician’s skills earn spotlight
With oversized sunglasses holding back her fiery hair and a broad grinning brightening her face, Megan Mullins seems happiest and most comfortable when she’s making music.
That’s not surprising considering the up-and-coming country artist started violin lessons when she was 18 months old.
“I had my first recital at 2, and from the time I was 3 on, I played between 100 and 200 shows a year,” she said after playing a few songs during a recent stop at a local radio station.
The highlight of her short set was the confident kiss-off anthem “Long Past Gone,” on which she sings and plays fiddle. The video, which features her walking the beach in picturesque El Matador Beach State Park in Malibu, Calif., and walking away from a new yellow Lamborghini, has been getting play on CMT and Great American Country.
“It’s a very empowering song,” she said. “It’s kind of (like) ‘I don’t have to take any crap from anybody and I’m gonna go do something good for myself, by myself.”
“Long Past Gone,” which she penned with songwriter Marla Cannon-Goodman, is the first single off her debut album, due out in fall on indie label Stoney Creek Records. She wrote six tracks on the as-yet untitled record, along with singing and playing fiddle and mandolin.
Growing up in Indiana, Mullins, 21, was inspired to take up music by her brother, who in turn wanted to play like their father. Their dad sang and played country music in a one-man band every weekend that he wasn’t working his factory job for Dana Corp.
“My dad is a huge influence. He sang good ol’ country music, and when I was a kid, I loved Patsy Cline, Dolly Parton and Alison Krauss,” she said. “I just thought they were all great and very inspiring.”
Along with belting out songs in a big, twangy voice, Mullins plays fiddle, mandolin, guitar, viola, piano, accordion, clarinet and cello. She first made herself heard on the 2006 Top 40 single “Ain’t What It Used to Be” and then spent a couple years playing in the house band for the TV show “Nashville Star.” She now plays fiddle in Randy Owen’s touring band and recorded a duet with the former Alabama frontman for his 2008 CD “One on One.”
Guitarist John Bohlinger said the triple-threat has earned her chance at the spotlight. “It’s just a really much-deserved turn,” said Bohlinger, who hired Mullins on “Nashville Star” and now is in her band. “She is so talented.”
-BAM
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