FREE DOWNLOADS:
Meiko - “Boys With Girlfriends”
Meiko - “Under My Bed”
WHO IS SHE? Meiko, a Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter whose self-titled debut album, has been getting mad love from Starbucks, USA Today and the producers of prime-time television shows like Grey’s Anatomy and One Tree Hill. She never misses an episode that features one of her songs. “I’ll invite some friends to my house and we watch it over and over again,” said Meiko.
FILE NEXT TO: Ingrid Michaelson, Rachel Yamagata, Yael Naim
SO, WHAT’S HER STORY ANYWAY? Meiko and her sister were raised by their father ― um, Mr. Meiko? ― in a log cabin he built with his very own hands in the middle of the Georgia woods. “It was his dream house,” said the singer. “It took him four years to design and build.” Her father also taught her to play guitar, introducing her to acts such as Led Zeppelin, Marshall Tucker and the Allman Brothers in the process. “I was the only one in my school who played guitar,” said Meiko. In a town with a total population of 808, that’s not bad.
WHAT TO BUY: Meiko’s MySpace Records/DGC debut regularly draws comparisons to Feist ― mostly by us ― but the 26-year-old singer doesn’t really see the similarity. “I don’t get it,” said Meiko. “But thanks. I’ll take it as a compliment.” Maybe it has something to do with the disc’s folk-based, softly quivering songs like “Reasons to Love You” and “How Lucky We Are.” There’s also an undeniable pop streak that surges through her first single, “Boys With Girlfriends.” Now, if only she would wear a sequin covered leotard in the video. Not that she has to, her song was featured on a free sampled disc distributed throughout 2,100 Starbucks stores, making her a shoo-in star with the ever elusive demographic of over-caffeinated high school kids.
WHY SHE’S A TERRIBLE INTERVIEW SUBJECT: After asking Meiko a very important question, she says: “I have no idea what you just said because I’m looking at a dog with three legs.”
EQUIPMENT CHECK: Meiko loves Gibson guitars. So much that she’s broken her two vintage favorites by playing them so much, a 1951 J-50 (“It’s so old it’s going to take a lot of work to get it back in playing condition”) and a 1942 LG2 (“But it doesn’t have a pickup”). Hey, we’d be happy to loan her ours.
NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH: Mika, Nico, Meco, Neko Case