Maggie Björklund

Early life

Maggie Björklund was born in Denmark and grew up near Copenhagen. She took piano lessons, but switched to guitar as soon as she could. She moved to Hollywood and attended the Musicians Institute, where she was introduced to country music. She returned to Denmark after a year.

Career

Back in Denmark, she formed the all-female country band Darleens, and they recorded three albums for Sony Records. After Darleens split up, she took pedal steel guitar lessons from Jeff Newman in Nashville, Tennessee.

Her 2011 debut Coming Home was produced by Johnny Sangster (The Tripwires). The record featured members of Calexico, and guest vocalists Mark Lanegan (Screaming Trees), Jon Auer (The Posies), and Rachel Flotard (Visqueen).

After the album's release, she played pedal steel with Jack White's all-female backing band, the Peacocks. In 2011 and 2012 she performed at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas. She also toured with John Doe and with Exene Cervenka from the band X.

For her sophomore album Shaken, released in 2014, she enlisted John Convertino (Calexico), Barb Hunter (Afghan Whigs), and Jim Barr (Portishead). John Parish (producer for Sparklehorse) was producer, and Kurt Wagner (Lambchop) provided a guest vocal. The songs reflected the impact of the death of her mother.

Maggie Björklund

Darleens