Lost Mary’s band, made up of Ithaca College students, includes senior Margaret Harper, sophomore Zach Ryan, sophomore Chris Tassone and juniors Gerard Allen and Morrison Powell. The group formed in Fall 2023, and it is mostly a cover band but has some original songs that they play occasionally.
Nobody in the group has a designated position or instrument. Members rotate who sings depending on who knows the words best, and everyone picks up instruments depending on how familiar they are with the instrument and the song. Lost Mary’s generally performs with an acoustic guitar, an electric guitar, a bass and drums, but the members will occasionally throw in a mandolin, a banjo, a lap steel or a piano.
This article has been edited for length and clarity.
Noa Ran-Ressler: How did you first get together?
Margaret Harper: We first got together through meeting friends of friends. It was actually Zach, Chris and I who were hanging out in my living room and somebody said the name “Joni Mitchell.” We all kind of were like, “Oh, yeah, we’re on the same page”, and we jammed out a little bit. They invited me to do a performance of “This Flight Tonight” by Joni and then we were like, “We should do this all the time.” We knew Gerard really well, so we all just became really good friends naturally through hanging out and jamming out in my living room.
Gerard Allen: The four of us, we felt like there wasn’t enough rhythm in the band. We sought out far and wide to find the finest drummer in central New York and Morrison Powell became a tried and true member of the Lost Mary’s band.
NR: What was it like to perform at the Young Blood Discovery Festival?
MH: We’re pretty proud of that performance — definitely proud and happy. [We are] kind of happy it’s over. It’s been a long time coming on that one, rehearsing until three in the morning — four sometimes — having to get all the horns together, and also being full-time students. … We have a really busy schedule. … So it [was] just a really action-packed weekend. It’s just been a lot of time.
NR: How do you manage being in a band and being a full-time student?
Zach Ryan: I don’t think that the balance is very easy to accomplish. I don’t really think it’s possible. … You can’t get good grades and play as much as we do at the same time.
Chris Tassone: I think our balance is very off-kilter as it is. We destroyed our sleep schedules, our GPAs a little bit, too. There’s no routine.
MH: [Before Young Blood], we rehearsed every day for at least four hours, probably more. It doesn’t really feel like work and rehearsal. I think that’s why it’s so good, because we could just hang out and play. That’s [how] we want to keep the foundation of the band, because it’s all just stuff we like to play.
GA: That’s also just loving what you do. We started as friends in a living room and we try and keep that energy at whatever cost.
NR: What does it mean to each of you to be in a band as a college student?
Morrison Powell: It means everything to me to be a student and to play in a band.
ZR: It’s the reason I came to school. I think it was honestly a dream to come to school and play music with a bunch of great musicians.
CT: It means a lot. These are my glory years and I’m gonna savor them for however long we keep playing music.
MH: This is the type of experience that I’ve been fantasizing about since I was a little kid: having friends and going to college and making the most out of that.
GA: These guys are my best friends, and I love doing this stuff with them. I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. It means everything. It’s been awesome.
