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Editor’s Note: This feature originally ran in the June/July edition of the LaGrange Living magazine, a publication produced bi-monthly by the LaGrange Daily News. If you would like to pick up a copy of LaGrange Living, please visit our office at 115 Broad St Suite 101.

Music fans have a treat in store when they visit Pure Life House of Music in LaGrange with performances by a range of artists from local to Grammy award winners.

Pure Life founder and owner Maggie McDonald said she focuses on bringing singer-songwriters to the stage at 206 Clark St. for an immersive listening experience. For nearly 10 years, the House of Music has entertained audiences with a variety of musical genres.

“One of the big inspirations was I’ve always loved music. My husband and I would drive down to Eddie’s Attic,” McDonald said, noting its difficult to get to and not convenient for local residents.

“If you have a glass of wine or something, you really don’t want to drive back — you just feel sleepy. It was just too far,” she said. “I felt there was a need here for something like that. We could make it really fun.

And so it just took on a life of its own.”

McDonald is accomplishing one of her goals as Pure Life provides local performers the opportunity to get their names out when they take the stage. A lot of local musicians want to play there, she noted.

“So we thought we would start something called the Hometown Series,” she explained. “We thought it’d be fun with a bunch of locals if we have them in rounds and kind of put them in a different environment.”

McDonald said it will be an evening of good music you’re going to go to that allows the performers to interact and talk with people in the audience.

“It’s going to be very interactive — like you’re sitting at home in the living room watching people play music,” she said. “It’s very intimate and cozy and that’s how the Hometown Series came along.”

McDonald said she loves community and wants to know everyone that comes to the House of Music to listen or perform.

“I like to talk to people and meet them and I guess they probably bring a lot of interesting stories too along the way with their struggles and journey to get out on the circuit,” she noted. Many of the singer-songwriters travel the country on a circuit going from one place like Pure Life to another.

“A lot of them typically have a song about their travels, which is always fun,” she said. “We get people who have won Grammys and we get people who are just starting out,”McDonald said. “I love to work with new up and coming artists.”

McDonald said she particularly enjoys helping teens develop their skills and their talent.

“I’ve been working with them since I opened,” she said. “Many of them have met each other through the teen program and have gone on to record EPs and have done work together.”

Most of the teens from her first group are still young, coming in at 24 years old.

“I think most of them are still dabbling in music,” she added.

McDonald’s middle son of three, Liam, has started to reconnect with a lot of teens and he’s doing a younger series.

“We have what’s called Chapel Stage at Pure Life and he gets young bands and stuff to come perform,” she said. “This just started, he did his second one on Saturday (June 25) and it was really fun with a group called Rationality.”

McDonald said a local young man named P.J. Thompson, who now goes by Lee, is doing well now. He performed at Pure Life but wasn’t part of her teen program, coming there in his later teenage years.

“He’s been nominated for a Grammy,” she said, noting that he is now in Greenville, South Carolina.

“Aside from getting nominated for a Grammy, he did his first album at Pure Life and it was awarded best self-produced album of the year,” McDonald said. “So that was exciting.”

There is some great talent in LaGrange, she said, adding this extends to those who also write their own music.

“We have one gal, Katie Olinger. She was in the teen program and in fact, I’ve known her since she was 12 and she is now 22,” McDonald said. She graduated from Berklee School of Music of Boston and she just graduated and came back and started our first singer-songwriter course.”

With Olinger’s help, she said the House of Music is now able to offer a few more interesting classes to help the singer-songwriter community in LaGrange.

Teens who have a strong interest in music and want to become part of McDonald’s programs and classes just need to contact her. She recommends they email her at maggie@purelifelagrange.com. Those interested also can call and leave a message at 706-443-4838.

How Pure Life came about

It’s not what most folks would expect, but Pure Life was a holistic fitness and nutrition center before it transitioned to music.

McDonald said she began doing music through Angela Hutchins, a local college student.

“She wanted to revive what was called Acoustic Cafe at Lagrange College,” she explained. This got underway at a car barn that was an empty building at the time.

“We just started doing some open mics down there and getting people to come play,” McDonald explained. “They wanted to start charging us for the building. And so I said, well, let’s just do it at my fitness studio.”

Hutchins moved on after graduating, but she said she decided to continue it.

Professional musician Barry Waldrep offered to help McDonald and lined up her first five artists for the House of Music.

“I would literally rent tables and chairs on a Friday night, bring them in, set them up, have some open mics and then tear them down and have fitness the next morning and take back the rentals,” she said. “I did that for a few months.”

McDonald said from there they started doing music in there on Friday nights.

“I want to say it was when my friend Barry came in and looked at it, he said, ‘I’ll get you your first five artists’ and it sort of took off from there,” she explained. “Singer-songwriters are on a circuit and they follow each other when they see somebody they really like and they want to play at the same place as they do. They follow their tour and routing.”

McDonald also gets a lot of artists calling her for a chance to take the stage at Pure Life.

“I didn’t really have to go out and hunt for anybody in particular,” she noted. “It just kind of happens that they’re clearly looking for a paid gig and so they come looking for me.”

Jan. 16, 2025 will be the 10th anniversary of the House of Music.

McDonald’s passion for music helped her develop the business.

“I do play guitar and some piano and write all my music,” McDonald noted. She was onstage during the July Hometown Series event performing with others from the local community.

What has developed at the House of Music is a very personable experience, she said, where those who attend are “just looking to be completely entertained.”

What to expect on your first visit

McDonald said those attending a Pure Life event will find it’s an immersive experience.

Unlike attending a large arena event, she said the artists are always available to folks during the evening.

“They get to meet the artists and engage and have interactions with them and get their merchandise signed,” McDonald said, noting there may even be dialogue between artists or between an artist and the audience during a performance.

The House of Music is a listening room, which means when somebody’s playing a song, you’re not having a conversation, McDonald said. Sometimes there is banter with the artist, but during a performance it’s usually hooting and hollering with the music.

If the greenroom at Pure Life isn’t packed with a lot of different performers, McDonald said the audience can meet and get photos with the artist there.

As folks walk in the door, they will see the area with merchandise the artists are selling, which they can also get them to sign, she noted.

While food is no longer sold at Pure Life, McDonald said four nearby restaurants are great places to order, pickup and bring it to the performance. These restaurants include Beacon Brewing Co., Cart Barn, Oink Joint and Rock Salt.

“I usually recommend they don’t bring something crunchy because if it’s really an intense song and everybody’s silent, you can hear people chewing on their food,” she said. “A lot of people will make charcuterie  boards or little snacky things and bring in and they bring in a bottle of wine. We’re brown bag approved.”

Typically, McDonald said the concerts are an hour and a half long.

“Rarely, it’ll go over, but it does go over sometimes and rarely it’s under,” she explained. “It just depends on how intense the performer is.”

While there are a few artists who make regular stops at Pure Life three or four times a year, McDonald said most often the audience is treated to a new singer-songwriter each performance. Watch the purelifelagrange.com website for the schedule and it’s possible one might see the likes of Grammy-winners John Cowan or Mike Ferris, or multi-award winner Radney Foster.

“Sometimes it’s a little more down home and local and then sometimes you end up with the other and sometimes in between from the circuit,” she said.

Tickets can be purchased online and top out at $35 per person, with other shows running $10 to $25 per person. Students pay $10 each with a valid student ID.

With seating limited to 130 people at each performance, McDonald recommends purchasing them ahead online.

For additional information, email her at maggie@purelifelagrange.com or call 706-443-4838.

Feature by: Jeff Moore