August 2020 Newsletter | "September Master Classes, Sundays w/ Mary, and Saved by a Song"

August 2020 Newsletter
"Good Trouble"

August News

Remembering John Lewis

"Do not get lost in a sea of despair," Lewis tweeted almost exactly a year before his death.
Do not become bitter or hostile. Be hopeful, be optimistic. Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble. We will find a way to make a way out of no way." 
-- John Lewis

President Obama said: "Generations from now, when parents teach their children what is meant by courage, the story of John Lewis will come to mind -- an American who knew that change could not wait for some other person or some other time; whose life is a lesson in the fierce urgency of now.
 -- President Barak Obama

RIP Sir, RIP. 

Sundays w/ Mary 

"Sundays with Mary" continue in August with a great lineup of musical friends! On August 9th, I'll be joined by my friend Rodney Crowell. All tips (100%) from this stream will benefit Music Health Alliance. Did you know medical bills are the #1 cause of bankruptcy in America and 75% of those bankruptcies actually have health insurance? Music Health Alliance is not only helping music professionals gain access to affordable health care, but they are also currently feeding our most vulnerable population in the music community during this pandemic. Please join us on August 9th to raise awareness and funds for this important effort. We love spending our Sundays with you.

Sundays with Mary | FB LIVE at 2PM CT

Upcoming "Sundays w/ Mary" Guests

August 2nd: Allison Moorer
August 9th: Rodney Crowell *Benefitting Music Health Alliance*
August 16th: Gurf Morlix
August 23rd: Sam Baker returns!
August 30th: Slaid Cleaves

Be sure to watch Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for the most up to date guest announcements. 

NEW NEW NEW! September Master Classes
Strictly limited to twenty songwriters, in these classes Mary will listen to songs, and offer feedback and encouragement to every participant. She will listen to your song, and provide a deep dive into the mechanics and art of songwriting using your unfinished song as a way of finding teachable moments that will put songwriting tools in the toolkits of every member of the class. Increasing the number of tools you have in your toolkit is the fastest way to becoming a better songwriter. Mary has twenty years of experience working with songwriters in this way, and her book “Saved By a Song” is coming out in August 2021 on St. Martin’s MacMillan Press. This is not a lecture class, it is a hands-on, student participation workshop taught in four ninety-minute sessions. You will walk away with information that usually takes decades to figure out.

Enroll Today

New "Mercy" Masks Available Now

Every living thing could use a little mercy now...

New "Mercy" face coverings. The one on the left is made of T-Shirt fabric, super lightweight for summer outdoor heat, no-sew. 1 ply, raw edges. 

The one on the right is a thicker face-covering made of breathable, washable, stretchy polyester. 

Both face coverings are non-medical. 

"Mercy" logo by Brad Bond (Austin, TX)
 

Buy Here

Book a Unique, One-On-One Experience with Mary

I’m excited to offer one on one live video hang out sessions including serenades, mini-concerts, and songwriting coaching via Topeka Live. Not only will you be getting a unique, individualized experience with me but you'll also be supporting Atlanta-based non-profit, Circles Morningside. Circles Morningside empowers men and women looking to lift themselves from poverty by providing apprenticeships and employment opportunities.

Book Today

VIEW UPDATED TOUR SCHEDULE

LIVESTREAM SHOWS
Sunday, August 2nd: Sundays w/ Mary Live Stream: Allison Moorer, 2 PM, CDT, Mary Gauthier's FB Page / Mary's YouTube Channel
Sunday, August 9th: Sundays w/ Mary Live Stream: Rodney Crowell *Benefitting Music Health Alliance*, 2 PM, CDT, Mary Gauthier's FB Page / Mary's YouTube Channel
Sunday, August 16th: Sundays w/ Mary Live Stream: Gurf Morlix, 2 PM, CDT, Mary Gauthier's FB Page / Mary's YouTube Channel
Sunday, August 23rd: Sundays w/ Mary Live Stream: Sam Baker, 2 PM, CDT, Mary Gauthier's FB Page / Mary's YouTube Channel
Sunday, August 30th: Sundays w/ Mary Live Stream: Slaid Cleaves, 2 PM, CDT Mary Gauthier's FB Page / Mary's YouTube Channel

JOIN US ON FACEBOOK LIVE

SUBSCRIBE ON YOUTUBE

NPR's 50 Best Albums of 2018

Rifles & Rosary Beads Named One of NPR’s 50 Best Albums of 2018!

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE FULL LIST

“Few singer-songwriters have mined their own autobiographies with a stronger belief in the unifying potential of human affliction than Mary Gauthier, but she arrived at her most compelling expressions of empathy to date by fixating intently on others' stories. Rifles & Rosary Beads, her eighth proper studio album, was the fruit of songwriting retreats with American military veterans and their spouses and partners; with the participants' permission, what began as a therapeutic exercise led to a riveting collection of testimonies, recollections and vignettes. Gauthier is a tough, almost surly singer who makes her emotional commitment to the material felt, and her choice of producers, and multi-instrumentalist Neilson Hubbard, framed it with bristly folk-rock gravity. The greatest source of the 11 songs' power is how they capture contradictions in excruciating, unshakable detail: the feelings of fierce camaraderie beneath heroic displays of stoicism; the mixture of pride and anguish that service leaves in its wake; the trauma that alienates vets and their loved ones even after they're reunited beneath the same roofs. That degree of attentiveness was an especially needed salve during a year when differences in experience and perspective were treated as unbridgeable, hostility-stoking barriers.”
—Jewly Hight

Saved By A Song: TEDxLincolnSquare

"Trauma goes deeper than words. But music can get into those places."
 
TEDxLincolnSquare has posted my TED Talk "Saved By A Song."  I spoke in New York City recently about the process of using songs and songwriting to articulate difficult stories to create resonance and human connection. It was not easy to get it all said in the time allowed, but I think I came pretty close.

A huge thanks to Tricia Brouk for being an amazing TED Director
and Talk Leader!

Click HERE to Watch

Why Do Songs Matter?

Most of life’s joy comes from love and connection, and most pain comes from love lost. In this, all of us are alike, and songs are a universal language that connects our hearts. Songs do matter, they’re important, and there’s nothing else nothing quite like them. They are our mother tongue. I was recently asked to write about why songs matter. I immediately think of Woody Guthrie’s guitar, with the saying, “This Machine Kills Fascists” hand-written on it. Woody believed singing truth to power is ultimately more persuasive than violence.

I also think about the soldiers I work with in the songwriting workshops, how writing a song about their war experience lifts a heavy weight off of their hearts. At the deepest level, songs can change lives. They help us heal. We can grab a song and say YES! LOOK! This is how I feel. Songs are human emotion dressed in melody and story. Songs express our hopes and dreams, our concerns, our playfulness, and they help us voice our values, anger, and frustrations.

Songs sing our truths, highlight our shared experiences, and help articulate the full range of human feelings. Songs can give us the hope we need, and the faith we are lacking when we are struggling. Songs see us, and we see ourselves in them. They don’t require an education to understand, they transcend language, race, age, sexual preference, nationality and religion, and they are timeless. When we feel a song deeply, we claim it as our own and can play it hundreds of times.

Songs can also be conduits for compassion and empathy, a road map into a stranger’s heart, which upon inspection - mirrors our own heart. Songs help us know each other and they also can plug us into the spiritual and sacred realm of faith, hope, compassion, mercy, charity, forgiveness and humility. Through the alchemy of song, even sad songs create the feeling of connection because we are reassured that we are not alone. Songs are what feelings sound like.

Why do songs matter to you?

"Without music, life would be a mistake." - Friedrich Nietzsche