Mackenzie O'Brien and Band

New Album

Over One Half Million Streams with New Songs Releasing in March and May of 2024

News

Kickin' Off 2024 with Chris Cagle at Joe's Live & Pam Tillis at The Vixen!

Mackenzie and her band is kicking off the 2024 season by opening for country star Chris Cagle at Joe's Live Rosemont (Chicago) and opening for Pam Tillis in March at The Vixen in McHenry!

Chris has been named ACM New Male Vocalist of the Year and has a certified gold album "Play it Loud" to his credit! Chris may be best known for some of his top ten country hits including the ballad "I Breathe in, I Breathe Out" which went all the way to number one in early 2002!

Pam is a CMA and Grammy winner who has three certified platinum albums and membership in the Grand Ole Opry! In addition Pam has had 12 top ten hits and written additional hit songs for other artists!

Mackenzie's has released several dozen original songs that have combined for over one half millions streams on Spotify and in the past few years she has opened for a long list of Country stars that inlcude Lonestar, Rodney Atkins, Chris Janson, Parker McCollum, Jordan Davis, Kylie Morgan, Ryan Hurd, Lee Brice, Pam Tillis, and others!

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Mackenzie and Band continue their stretch of opening for Country Music's Hottest and Most Iconic Acts in 2022, 2023, and 2024!

Mackenzie and her band continue to open for country music's hottest and most iconic names. The band played opener in 2022 for Ryan Hurd outside of Wrigley Field in Chicago in a show sponsored by Budweiser, The Chicago Cubs, and country station US99. Ryan, who perhaps is best known as the husband of Maren Morris, wrote #1 songs for Blake Shelton, Lady A, and Luke Bryan. Ryan is signed to RCA Nashville Records. Mackenzie and the band followed that with an August show opening for country superstars Lonestar. Lonestar dominated country charts in the 1990s with numerous #1s and songs that had an impact well beyond country music.

To kick off the 2023 season, Mackenzie featured songs from her upcoming album "Quarter Life Crisis" while opening for breakout Country artist Kylie Morgan in Chicago in a sold out show! Kylie had been featured at the CMAs and her online streams have surpassed the 100 million mark over the last year!

In June 2023, Mackenzie opened for the 2006 CMA vocalist of the year Rodney Atkins to a packed house of over 5,000 fans in a show hosted by The Village of Antioch and Country Station US 99! Rodney had a stretch of six number one country songs between 2006 and 2011. Rodney has been nominated for a CMA award six times and in 2006 won the CMA for top male vocalist! Mackenzie and her band opened with a 65 minute set!

Other notables Mackenzie has opened for include Chris Janson, Jordan Davis, Lee Brice, Parker McCollom, The Vandoliers, and Mike and the Moonpies. (Photos: Ryan and Mackenzie pictured outside of Wrigley Field, Mackenzie and Kylie backstage in Chicago, Mackenzie and Lonestar pictured in the green room at The Vixen, Mackenzie pictured on stage outside of Wrigley Field!

Mackenzie with Ryan Hurd

Mackenzie with Kylie Morgan

Mackenzie with Lonestar

The Mackenzie O'Brien Band rocks the 2023 summer season by playing to a crowd of over 5,000 and multiple shows of over 2,000 attendees!

Mackenzie and her band kicked off the summer season with a 90 minute concert off of Crystal Lake's Main Beach in Crystal Lake, Illinois. The event boasted over 2,000 fans entering through the main beach gates for the show and another 200 fans on boats watching the show from the lake itself! Fans were treated to original music and country covers as well as an assembly of food trucks from the area!

Mackenzie and her band followed that show by opening for country star Rodney Adkins in Antioch's (Illinois) downtown event space. The concert was attended by more than 5,000 country fans . Mackenzie and her band were asked to play an extended 65 minute set before Rodney and his band took the stage on a near perfect early summer evening! The rest of the summer had her band playing in front of over 2000 fans at concerts in Downers Grove, Libertyville, and Lake Bluff and several other shows with attendance at over 1,000 fans!

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Mackenzie and The Band: Festivals, Town Concerts, Album Release and One Half Million Spotify Streams!

Mackenzie and her band hit the festival circuit hard in 2022 and 2023 with appearances at fest.s in four states and multiple trips to Country Thunder Wisconsin! They balanced that with town concerts throughout Northern Illinois and a few preferred indoor venues in Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan and Indiana.

Mackenzie and her Nashville team released her latest and most ambitious project yet: an album entitled "Quarter Life Crisis". Songs from the album were written with a team of Nashville writers with a long list of credits to their names like number one and top ten hits! The album was produced by Daredevil Productions along with multiple Grammy winning producer Zach Allen!

The online streams from this album have pushed Mackenzie's Spotify catalogue of songs through the Half million stream barrier. Mackenzie's current online catalogue can be accessed on Spotify and on other online platforms!

(Photo Credits: Jason Kalish at Country Thunder 2022 and Aaron Schriver at Country Thunder 2023)

About

About Mackenzie O'Brien Songwriter

Mackenzie was given the nickname "Hummingbird" at an early age as she was often found playing alone and humming made up melodies. The name stuck and the hummingbird has become a symbol for her band and brand. Mackenzie released a song and music video entitled "Hummingbird" in 2020. Link to song: https://youtu.be/c9WY8nDpk5Q

Mackenzie reports knowing from around the age of four that music was her calling. At the age of 14 Mackenzie picked up a guitar and taught herself to play chords very quickly while watching videos on youtube. She stated that it was like part of her brain was unlocked and she found herself permanently linked with music!

Mackenzie developed her skills on guitar, and some banjo, and began singing in bars and coffee houses regularly upon graduation from high school. She also traveled to Austin Texas, and Nashville Tennessee where she built up music alliances and eventual partnerships. Mackenzie recorded and released her first original song "It's Just a Line" in 2017 recorded at Nashville's iconic Omnisound Studios! The solo written song in a singer songwriter style was featured on the Iceman's Nashville based radio show for up and coming original artists in that same year. The song is available for listening on Spotify and other platforms. Link to song: https://open.spotify.com/track/5s08tXPFpLUepmLe2UlHvY?si=72841276d5ce48ae

Mackenzie continued performing in Chicagoland and In Wisconsin and continued developing her writing style while being known as a melody driven songwriter. Mackenzie was sought out by various writers and built songwriting partnerships in Nashville and with other writers across the US and Canada. In 2019 Mackenzie won a songwriting contest sponsored by Merf Music Nashville which put her path on a new trajectory. To date, Mackenzie has written with Grammy nominated, Grammy winning writers, writers that were BMIs top money earners, and many writers with #1 songs to their credit. Mackenzie continued to be guided by the Merf Music team through which she was introduced to her current partnership with Daredevil Productions Nashville!

At this time, Mackenzie continues to write on her own, as well as with a team in Nashville, and through other writing partnerships she has established. Mackenzie has more than 20 songs out on Spotify (and other online platforms) that have amassed over one half of a million Spotify Streams! She looks forward to releasing more original music in the very near future!

Writing Room (Nashville) with some of the best

Laying down vocals at Omnisound Nashville

Singing out in Nashville Clubs

Band

The Mackenzie O'Brien Band

The Mackenzie O'Brien Band has defied odds by quickly becoming Chicagoland's #1 young country band. In spite of being young (25 to 35 years old) and female led, the band has moved from small venues to bigger bars and festivals including their headlining fest.s in four states. They returned to the iconic Country Thunder for the third consecutive year in 2023 and they have continued to perform at some of the areas biggest venues. Performance locations include The Now Center (Formerly the Sears Center), Joe's on Weed, Joe's Live Rosemont, The Hard Rock Casino and on the main stage at Gallagher Way outside of Wrigley Field. They have also performed concerts for more than 70 municipalities, US 99 Chicago Country, The Chicago Cubs, The Chicago White Sox and local country stations around the area!

The band is one of the few in Chicagoland that can play all covers and, if requested, play all original songs or a mix of both! One large venue owner commented "Mackenzie and her band are the only band I have ever booked that had no crowd energy drop off when playing an original song!" The band recently played two sold out 90 minute shows of all original music! The band has also opened for various country stars and the genres hottest new acts! This includes Lonestar, Chris Janson, Rodney Atkins, Parker McCollom, Chris Cagle, Pam Tillis, Lee Brice, Ryan Hurd, The Vandoliers, Jordan Davis, Kylie Morgan, and Mike and The MoonPies.

The band is local to Chicagoland and Southern Wisconsin but also play venues throughout the midwest and beyond! They feature all full time musicians and a lead singer referred to, in print, as "Chicago's New Country Queen".