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For singer/songwriter Becca Stevens, making music is a charmed form of service—a means of mining her own experience for insight into the beautiful complexity of being alive, in the hopes of providing others with understanding and solace and a renewed sense of strength. But in the early days of 2023, the North Carolina-bred artist felt an overwhelming need to process two monumental changes in her life (the death of her mother and the start of her own journey into motherhood), and soon sought the comfort and catharsis of pure self-expression. By the time she emerged from that period of unfettered creativity, Stevens had completed her new album Maple to Paper: an illuminating glimpse into her most private moments of grief and transcendence, rendered with both stunning clarity and heartfelt devotion to music’s alchemical powers. In a profound shift from the highly communal nature of her past projects—including her Grammy- nominated 2020 LP Wonderbloom; her widely celebrated work as a member of David Crosby’s Lighthouse Band; her collaborations with such diverse artists as Laura Mvula, Chris Thile, Jacob Collier, and Brad Mehldau; and her recent stint performing on Broadway in Illinoise, a musical based on Sufjan Stevens’ Illinois and choreographed by Justin Peck—Stevens arranged, recorded, and produced Maple to Paper in absolute solitude. Working at her home studio in New Jersey, she slowly dreamed up a stripped-down sound rooted in her spellbinding guitar work and raw yet luminous vocal performance. “In many ways these songs feel like the polar opposite of the last record,” says Stevens, referring to Wonderbloom (a funk/R&B-infused album featuring over 40 guest musicians). “This time it was much more of a troubadour approach, where you throw your guitar on your back and go out into the world to tell your story.” Comprised of 12 original songs and one heartrending cover of “Rainbow Connection,” Maple to Paper ultimately strays from the unbridled eclecticism of Stevens’ previous work and fully embraces the unhurried simplicity of folk. “This album brought me back to my roots as a guitarist, especially the Appalachian folk music my dad raised us on,” notes Stevens, a classically trained guitarist. “Instead of feeling the urge to bring in other instruments and add a lot of complicated rhythms and harmonies, I challenged myself to find a way to make the songs believable without relying on anything but guitar and vocals to hold them up.” Recorded live with no overdubs and mixed by Stevens’ frequent collaborator Nic Hard (Snarky Puppy, Huntertones), Maple to Paper offsets its exacting minimalism with an emotional force that envelops the listener right from the first seconds of “Now Feels Bigger than the Past”—an exquisitely gripping opening number that intertwines the LP’s themes of loss, acceptance, and the struggle to sustain authenticity in a world of fast-shifting attention.