Maggie Koerner

Born & raised in Shreveport, Louisiana — New Orleans home since 2011

Maggie Koerner is a Shreveport-born, New Orleans-based singer and songwriter with a voice that can whisper and roar in the same breath. After a psychology degree and a debut album produced by Brady Blade, she moved to New Orleans in 2011 — and spent 2013 to 2015 fronting Galactic on stages around the world. Since then she has built a fierce independent career: the Fink-produced Dig Down Deep EP, 2022’s The Bartholomew Songs, 2025’s Upstate, festival stages from Jazz Fest to Austin City Limits, and a starring role on film.

Why We Love Maggie Koerner

Maggie Koerner sings like she has nothing to lose — because for most of her career, she’s bet on herself. She walked away from a psychology degree, walked away from fronting one of the biggest funk bands in the country, and built a catalog entirely on her own terms: swampy soul-rock with a voice that can go from a whisper to a roar inside a single phrase. Eight Jazz Fests, a Grey’s Anatomy sync, a film lead, and a stage presence that once held its own next to Charles Bradley and Dr. John. New Orleans didn’t make Maggie Koerner — she made herself, here.

Biography

Shreveport Grit, New Orleans Soul

Maggie Koerner was born and raised in Shreveport, Louisiana, and came to music sideways: she earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from LSUS first, then caught the attention of producer and drummer Brady Blade — of Emmylou Harris and Dave Matthews Band renown — who produced her debut album, Quarter Life (2011). On the advice of fellow musician David Shaw of The Revivalists, she moved to New Orleans in 2011 to chase music full-time instead of a counseling career. She wrote, produced, and recorded her second album, Neutral Ground (2013), herself — and then got the call that changed everything.

From 2013 to 2015, Koerner fronted Galactic, the legendary New Orleans funk band, winning international attention for her fiery performances and commanding presence on tours alongside Widespread Panic, Charles Bradley, and Dr. John. Her songwriting and vocals appear on two Galactic albums, Carnivale Electricos (2012) and Into the Deep (2015), including the singles “Hey Na Na” and “Dolla Diva,” both co-written with Shaw. In 2015 she stepped away to bet on herself again.

Her voice is equally gritty and powerful as it is soft and vulnerable — a sound of her own that has made her one of New Orleans’ beloved musicians.

— Troubadours Nook

The independent streak paid off. She collaborated with UK singer-songwriter Fink on the searing Dig Down Deep EP (2016), released through his R’COUP’D imprint on Ninja Tune; signed with Concord Records in 2018; and released The Bartholomew Songs (2022), produced by Rob Kirwan, whose opening track “If I Die” was featured in ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy. Her latest LP, Upstate, arrived in November 2025. Along the way she co-wrote two songs with Jessica Simpson for the Nashville Canyon EPs (2023) and took a starring role in the independent film Heart Strings.

Live is where Koerner has always made her case — eight Jazz Fest appearances (she keeps track by outfits: “there’s the red, the green…”), Austin City Limits, tours opening for The Revivalists, Band of Horses, Marcus King, Tank and the Bangas, and Gov’t Mule, and her own curated post-Jazz Fest “Siren Song” showcases for women at the Marigny Opera House. Fiercely independent since day one, she remains one of the most commanding voices — and live presences — in New Orleans.