Produced By Don Was And Featuring Guests Bonnie Raitt And Jim Keltner, 'Echo' Is Set For August 11th Release; Lead Single "John Q. Lonely" Was # 1 Most Added At Triple A Radio For Two Consecutive Weeks

U.S. Headlining Tour Underway

Heralding Maia Sharp as "A Songwriter Set To Arrive," NPR's All Things Considered recently aired two separate segments with Sharp.

Sales of her latest album, 'Echo', exploded thereafter on Amazon.com. By that Friday, the album ranked #11 on Amazon's Bestsellers in Music - Adult Contemporary chart.

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Maia Sharp on amazon.com

Momentum has been building ever since lead single "John Q. Lonely," went to radio in June. The track was #1 Most Added for two consecutive weeks at Triple A radio and can be heard on such influential stations as Sirius/XM Loft, KPRI in San Diego and WYEP in Pittsburgh.

Produced by Don Was, 'Echo' will be released physically by Crooked Crown Records on August 11, 2009 but is available now at www.maiasharp.com, iTunes and everywhere music is sold online.

Watch video: "John Q. Lonely":

The album features Bonnie Raitt singing background on the track "Death By Perfection." Sharp wrote three songs for Raitt's 2005 album, 'Souls Alike', and Raitt introduced Maia to producer Don Was at a subsequent recording session, thus setting the wheels in motion for 'Echo'. Jim Keltner plays drums on all 12 songs.

Early reviews of 'Echo', Sharp's fourth full-length solo album, have been stellar. The Boston Herald called it "a nifty power-pop record that could be her breakthrough...studded with hard-to-resist hooks, 'Echo' trades the folk and jazz elements that colored Sharp's earlier records for a rocked-up take on the classic California singer-songwriter sound" while the Portland Press Herald said: "The album is home to 12 striking songs, and Sharp has never sounded better."

Sharp began her career at a young age, performing her original songs in Los Angeles clubs. She has forged a dual career as a recording artist with three critically acclaimed full length albums - Hardly Glamour (1997, Ark 21), Maia Sharp (2002, Concord) and Fine Upstanding Citizen (2005, KOCH) - and as a sought-after songwriter whose songs have been recorded by Bonnie Raitt, the Dixie Chicks, Keb' Mo', Terri Clark, Trisha Yearwood and many others. In 2005 she collaborated with Art Garfunkel and Buddy Mondlock on the exquisite Everything Waits to Be Noticed (EMI/Manhattan).

Maia Sharp 2009 tour dates:

(Dates and information subject to change.)

7/18 Easton, MD NightCat
7/21 Charlotte, NC Evening Muse
7/22 Charleston, SC The Pour House
7/23 Decatur, GA Eddie's Attic
7/25 Birmingham, AL O Kafes
7/26 Nashville, TN 3rd & Lindsley (WRLT will broadcast live)
7/30 Los Angeles, CA Pershing Square Concert Series (KSWD)
8/7 Balsam, NC Writer In The Round
8/8 Balsam, NC Writer In The Round
8/9 Charleston, WV Clay Center for the Arts & Sciences
8/11 Ann Arbor, MI The Ark
8/12 Cleveland Heights, OH Night Town
8/13 Columbus, OH Thirsty Ear Tavern
8/14 Louisville, KY WFPK Live Lunch
8/16 Evanston, IL S.P.A.C.E.
8/17 Saugatuck, MI Saugatuck Center for the Arts
8/19 Des Moines, IA Vaudeville Mews
8/20 Kansas City, MO The Record Bar
8/22 Middleton, WI Capital Brewery
8/29 Los Angeles, CA Hotel Café
9/4 Santa Rosa, CA KRSH Afterwork Concert Series
9/9 Portland, OR Mississippi Studios
9/19 San Diego, CA KPRI Greenflash Festival w/Mat Kearney, Brett Dennon & "mystery guest"
11/4 Santa Ynez, CA Maverick Saloon w/Steve Poltz Tales from the Tavern Concert Series

(Additional dates to be announced.)

For the latest tour dates, music and information, go to:

MySpace
Maia Sharp Official Website
Maia Sharp on Twitter