Virginia Plane is Atlanta singer-songwriter Mary O. Harrison, usually accompanied by McGregor Button, Tracy Clark and Govind Dixit. On tour Mary O. plays solo shows. Virginia Plane offers a playful, off-beat brand of folk pop marked by the sweet clarity of Mary O.'s vocals, which have been compared to those of Suzanne Vega and Kirsty MacColl.
McGregor, Tracy and Mary O. switch instruments often, which lets unexpected things to happen – like Tracy's incorporation of a typewriter into the song "Old Fashioned Girl" and McGregor's distinctive piano playing on "Idiot Soup." McGregor (Russian Spy Camera) plays bass, piano and guitar. Tracy (the Preakness, the Blue Hour, etc.) sings backup and plays keyboards, bass, melodica and guitar, while Mary O. sings lead and plays guitar, piano and flute. Govind Dixit (ex-Charm School), holds down the drumming duties.
Mary O. began writing music for the former Atlanta band Charm School in 1999 and released a solo album, Factory of Days, in 2008. Various musicians played in her backing band, the Tiny Tears. Then in the summer of 2010, the band recorded the Virginia Plane EP with Ben Price (Studilaroche, Atlanta). "It was clearly a band project by then, not a solo one, and we wanted a name that could represent all of us but that I could also use for solo shows," says Mary O. The EP was mixed and mastered by Jason NeSmith (Bel Air Studio, Casper and the Cookies) and released in June 2011 by Two Sheds Music.
The name Virginia Plane is a quasi-Roxy Music reference, putting an aerodynamic twist on the iconic glam rock hit "Virginia Plain." (The song title actually came from one of Brian Ferry's paintings) "I love Roxy Music – although it would be a stretch to hear it in my writing," says Mary O. Harrison. More direct influences include Carol King, the Kinks, Guadalcanal Diary and, of course, the Beatles.
