And through every chapter, one thing has remained constant: music.
Today, Maile is building a new chapter of her career right here in Arizona, balancing life as a full-time mom of two with a full-time performance schedule and proving that sometimes the dream doesn’t disappear — it simply finds a new place to grow.
Originally from Bonney Lake, Washington, Maile says music has been part of her life for as long as she can remember.
She began singing at just two years old. Her parents quickly recognized her love for music and enrolled her in voice lessons, opening the door to opportunities to perform at an early age.
As she grew older, performing became much more than something she enjoyed. It became something she could genuinely picture herself doing with her life.
During high school, Maile competed in the statewide Washington State Nashville Country Star competition, where she placed second. Her connection with the organization didn’t end there — she continues to remain involved with the program today.
Eventually, she headed to college to pursue a degree in music.
But life changed unexpectedly when Maile lost her best friend.
For a period of time, music took a back seat. She left college and returned home, giving herself time to navigate a difficult season of life. Eventually, however, the pull toward music returned stronger than ever.
She made the decision to fully commit to pursuing a career, and in 2015, Maile began working professionally in music full time.
Maile’s sound has been shaped by artists spanning several generations of country music.
One of the albums she remembers loving most when she was younger was Tim McGraw and the Dancehall Doctors. Tim McGraw, Lee Ann Womack, Miranda Lambert and Shania Twain were among her early influences.
Today, she still finds inspiration in many of those artists while also listening to performers such as Ella Langley, Hailey Whitters, Parker McCollum, Cody Johnson and Ian Munsick.
Through it all, her musical compass continues pointing toward the more traditional side of country music.
And while influences may help shape an artist, Maile has worked hard to develop something unmistakably her own.
Her longtime friend and producer Kevin Moon, who produced Maile’s first EP, describes her voice as one that immediately commands attention. He points to the natural rasp in her vocals, her ability to move from powerful moments to intimate ones, and the control she brings to intricate vocal runs.
Perhaps most importantly, he describes a singer who doesn’t sound like she is trying to imitate anyone else.
She simply sounds like Maile Mae.
Before moving to Arizona, Maile had built a thriving career in Washington.
She fronted a band, developed strong relationships throughout the Pacific Northwest country music community and had opportunities to perform alongside nationally recognized artists.
Over the years, Maile has opened shows for artists including:
Scotty McCreery, Jon Pardi, Maddie & Tae, James Otto, Keith Anderson, Jessica Andrews, The Henningsens and Kristen Kelly.
She has also worked with major Seattle country radio stations including 100.7 The Wolf and 98.9 The Bull, performed at the George Jones Museum in Nashville, and worked closely with Kevin Moon, a musician who has performed at the Grand Ole Opry and alongside some of country music’s biggest names.
But one performance stands above the rest.
Before the COVID pandemic, Maile and her band had the opportunity to perform at Watershed Festival in George, Washington, one of the largest country music festivals in the country.
For Maile, stepping onto that stage remains one of the greatest highlights of her career.
About six years ago, a family emergency brought Maile to Arizona unexpectedly.
It wasn’t a carefully planned career move. She arrived at a time when the entertainment industry was facing one of its most uncertain periods.
COVID had brought live music to a halt, and Maile found herself starting over in a state where she hadn’t yet built the network and relationships she had spent years developing in Washington.
For someone who had worked so hard to establish herself in the Pacific Northwest, that uncertainty was difficult. At one point, she considered walking away from music altogether.
But after becoming a mother for the second time, something shifted. Rather than stepping away, Maile decided to recommit. She knew music was something she simply wasn’t willing to give up.
That decision helped launch the chapter she is living now — one where she says she is busier than ever and finally beginning to feel established within Arizona’s country music community.
Today, Maile performs primarily as a solo artist, although there is still a little piece of her Washington music history nearby. Her former drummer also relocated to Arizona, and the two occasionally have the opportunity to perform together.
Ask Maile what she is most proud of, and her answer isn’t one particular performance or accomplishment.
It’s where she is today.
Arizona began as an unexpected destination, but somewhere along the way, it became home.
She has built a life here, welcomed two children, continued performing and worked her way into a new music community while balancing the demands of motherhood and a professional music schedule.
For Maile, continuing to pursue music after everything life has thrown her way is an accomplishment in itself.
And her goals don’t necessarily require the biggest stage in the world.
If she gets to continue performing at the incredible venues found throughout Arizona for years to come, she says she would consider herself incredibly blessed.
That appreciation for the opportunity to simply keep making music says quite a bit about the artist behind the microphone.
As Maile continues to establish herself in Arizona, her hard work is already being recognized within the local country music community.
In 2026, Maile Mae landed on the first-round ballot for Up & Comer / Emerging Artist of the Year at the Arizona Desert Country Music Awards.
For an artist who essentially had to rebuild her music career from the ground up after relocating from Washington to Arizona, earning a place on the ballot was a meaningful milestone.
It also speaks to just how far she has come since those uncertain early days of starting over in a new state. Maile has spent the past several years introducing herself to Arizona audiences, building relationships with venues and fellow musicians, balancing motherhood with a demanding performance schedule, and continuing to show up for the career she refused to leave behind.
While her name didn’t advance to the final three this year, simply seeing Maile Mae among the artists considered for the award marked another important step in her Arizona journey.
And if her story so far tells us anything, she’s only getting started.
Maile is also a songwriter, and one song holds a particularly special place in her story.
“Football Town” was inspired by the time she spent living in a small Alabama community that became incredibly meaningful to her.
Years later, when it came time to record her first EP, her music took her right back to Alabama.
Returning to the place that inspired the song and recording there created a full-circle moment for Maile. Some of her closest friends still live in Alabama, and the state remains somewhere she holds close to her heart.
And Alabama is about to become part of her story again.
Maile plans to return there in the coming months to record her next single, “Thirsty,” with hopes of completing her next album by mid-2027.
For Maile, performing has always been an outlet.
It is the place where she feels most comfortable and where everything else happening in life can fade into the background for a little while.
Performing solo full time has been an adjustment after spending years fronting a band in Washington, but it has also given her something different.
Connection.
A solo performance creates an intimacy between an artist and an audience that can be difficult to replicate in any other setting.
Maile loves meeting the people who come to her shows, hearing their feedback and watching how different songs connect with different people.
Ultimately, that connection is what she hopes audiences remember.
More than anything, Maile wants people to remember the storytelling.
She approaches every song with the goal of making someone in the audience feel something — whether that means recognizing part of their own story in a lyric, remembering a moment from their life or simply forgetting everything else and having a great night.
In a world where people often seem divided, Maile believes music is one of the rare things capable of bringing almost everyone together.
And that is exactly what she hopes to create every time she takes the stage.
If Maile had to choose one country song to describe her own journey, it would be Ashley McBryde’s “Girl Goin’ Nowhere.”
In fact, she regularly performs the song during her shows and shares the story behind why it means so much to her.
About ten years ago, Maile was attending a friend’s wedding and reconnecting with people she hadn’t seen in some time.
During one conversation, a friend asked what she was doing with her life. At the time, Maile was working at her family’s boutique while continuing to pursue music.
The response? Maybe it was time to find a “big girl job.” Instead of discouraging her, those words did something very different. They made Maile realize just how badly she wanted music to work.
She pushed harder. Eventually, she was able to leave her retail job and make music her full-time career.
From there came opportunities to perform with artists like Jon Pardi, Scotty McCreery, Maddie & Tae and James Otto — experiences that confirmed something Maile already knew deep down.
She was doing exactly what she was meant to do.
For Maile, becoming part of Arizona’s music community means far more than simply finding new places to perform.
After spending years building relationships in Washington, starting over could have felt isolating.
Instead, she found an Arizona country community filled with talented artists and musicians who genuinely support one another.
That matters to her.
After putting music on hold at different points in her life, becoming a mother and rebuilding her career in an entirely new state, Maile says she is ready to dive completely back into the career she has loved for nearly half of her life.
She may be juggling school schedules, mom life, rehearsals, travel and gigs these days — but she is doing it while continuing to chase the dream that began with a little girl singing at two years old.
And she isn’t finished yet.
With a new single on the horizon, plans for another album and an increasingly busy Arizona performance schedule, Maile Mae is continuing to build her story one stage, one song and one audience at a time.
We’re excited to see where that story takes her next.
