Ride The Peace Train | May 2017

Ride The Peace Train

I’m hosting a musical train trip with Eliza Gilkyson & Gretchen Peters through some of the most stunning parts of Alaska this September.

Come join us September 13-18 as we roll through the breath-taking Kenai Peninsula and explore the music of the Great American Songbook, as well as our own songs.

We will be singing songs of freedom, songs of peace, and songs of struggle. Bring your guitar, three chords and the truth, and we’ll have a rolling hootenanny on the rails! 

Come solo, bring your spouse, bring your love interest, or bring your mamma. We’re going to make sure there’s plenty of laughter and good food. There will be Bald Eagles, Beluga Whales, Otters and Puffins. And I’m also looking forward to the conversation, communion, and camaraderie that comes when we ride the musical rails together.

The jaw dropping beauty of this most amazing place is a bucket list must see before the permafrost melts.  The time to see Alaska is now.

CLICK HERE TO RIDE THE PEACE TRAIN

In The Studio | April 2017

In The Studio!

The Veterans show up nervous, and a little shy. The job of Explosive Ordinance Disposal experts (EOD) is to dismantle unexploded bombs, and render them safe. The EOD experts and other Veterans come to a Songwriting With Soldiers retreat unsure of what they will find. Most have never talked to civilians about their service. One day into co-writing, the Veterans are willingly telling stories and discovering the transformational power of an honest song. This powerful process happens every time. I'm thrilled to announce that I'm making a record of the songs I've been writing with Veterans over the last four years.

I hired the gifted Neilson Hubbard (pictured in the center) to build a remote studio in my living room, and to bring a band in to record the songs I’ve been writing with veterans in the Songwriting With Soldiers program over the last few years.

Michele Gazich (left) flew in from Italy to play viola and violin and Beth Neilson Chapman (right) came and sang on the song we-co-wrote with six veterans' wives at a retreat at Boulder Crest. We are also filming a documentary of the writing and recording process. I'll be writing a lot more about this soon.

In other news, I'm headed to a castle in Scotland to teach a workshop with 15 songwriters. There are still 2 seats left, so grab 'em if you are interested in a big adventure. I will be playing in England and Scotland after the workshop, with Michele Gazich. TOUR DATES HERE.

And special thanks to Tim McGraw for recording my song, co-written with Crit Harmon, "I Drink"!  You can find Tim's version of "I Drink" on his "The Ultimate Collection" Album.

Listen HERE on Spotify.

Also, I have a new website! A huge thanks to Katherine Forbes at Designing The Row for making it all work. To celebrate, we're offering every single CD I've ever recorded (plus a bonus CD: The Foundling Alone - demo's from The Foundling record) for $50. The Limited Time Bundle Offer includes 9 CD's for $50. Visit the STORE HERE.

As always, thank you for your support! Happy Spring!

#talkingtostrangers

Ever since the election, I've been talking to people a lot more than I used to, striking up conversations with strangers that look friendly, asking them about themselves. Something in me is telling me to try and connect with people around me, even though it takes some effort, because by nature I am a fairly introverted extrovert.

I'm reaching out, making conversations.

My uber driver to the Nashville airport was an immigrant, from Northern Iraq. Jahmir's been in the US since the 90's. He received asylum in America, for safety from torture under the Saddam Hussein dictatorship. He has a wife, two children. He has kind eyes, and a gentle voice. I told him it was a pleasure to meet him, and that I was glad he was my driver. I tried to make my eyes say that I saw him, I liked him, and that I was safe to talk to. I tried to make him feel welcome and comfortable.

As we started talking, he said he is an American citizen, but ever since the election people were calling him a foreigner, and treating him differently. People who he thought were his friends are turning on him, and he is afraid for his family. He said he was worried about his children, but that he believes if they just stay kind, and be nice to everyone, everything is going to be ok. He talked about how shocking it is to think someone is your friend, and then as they pull away, to see that they never were. 

I told him that I understood. It is happening to me too, now. I told him I am gay. Some people who I thought were my friends are now pulling away from me too. I told him someone drew a swastika on the door of the West End Methodist Church where I go to meetings, and trashed the “God Loves Everyone” banners. 

He said, “But we are all alike, there is no such thing as different! Humans, we are all human.” I said yes, I know, I know. But there are many who do not know, and they have been given license to openly hate. I told him that people like you, and me, we’re at risk for violence, and we have to be careful. His face looked sad, and he looked down. Then he looked up again and said, “But this is a great country, a great place to live!” I said, “Yes, yes, it is. It is. I know we will find a way to get through this time of violence and hate. We are better than this."

When he dropped me off at the airport, he helped me with my bags, and we hugged. 
We told each other to stay safe.
 

This Land Was Made For You And Me | Fall 2016

Hello Again!

I am a folk singer by nature, a child of Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Joe Hill, and the early Bob Dylan. I believe in inclusion, diversity, social justice and expanding the American Dream to include everyone, in equal amounts. This election year, I felt called to jump into the political fray and throw an old fashioned hootenanny! The powers that be at the Nashville City Winery let me have a night, and with the help of many friends, we pulled together a grass roots fundraiser for The Democratic Party of Tennessee in less than 30 days, raising $6,000 for local elections and re-energizing our local community.

The Mayor of Nashville Megan Berry kicked it off and spoke about our great city. Callie Khouri, the creator of the TV show Nashville, (and Thelma and Louise), spoke about using our voices. We had amazing young speakers, including the transgender teenager Henry Ashton Seaton who single-handedly got the idiotic trans-shaming bathroom law shelved here in Tennessee, and Youth Poet laureate Lagnajita Mukhopadhyay, who Michelle Obama has invited to the White House. Ashley Cleveland, Odessa Settles and all of the musicians made a joyful noise, raising the roof between guest speakers. To close the evening, we all sang Woody Guthrie’s anthem, “This Land Is Your Land.”

“When the sun comes shining, then I was strolling,
With the wheat fields waving, the dust clouds rolling,
The voice come a-chanting, and the fog was lifting.
This land was made for you and me.”

Musicians pictured here: Kenny Greenberg, Band Leader; Mary Gauthier; Webb Wilder, MC; Rebekkah del Rio; Radney Foster; Ashley Cleveland; Tomi Lunsford; Odessa Settles; James House; Warren Denny; Robin Eaton.

Songs matter, as I have said so many times here in this newsletter, and also in my book (I just turned in the first draft to the publisher!). Songs can bring hope, unity and healing. We need all of that here in Tennessee. Artists, like so many others, are sometimes scared to speak up. Musicians have been bullied into silence after the plug was pulled on the Dixie Chicks, and many cower in a fear-based hiding, scared that if we speak up, the plug will be pulled on us too. I see this as not only bad for art, but also bad for our Republic.

If artists are silenced – who will be the truth tellers? Songs help us see that “united” we can accomplish what we could never accomplish individually. This election year, as a group, we managed to pull off one for the ages. Special thanks to everyone who made this evening possible.

Humble and Kind

In what’s shaped up to be the meanest year in politics I have ever witnessed, my friend Lori McKenna won NSAI Song Of The Year with her song Humble and Kind. How’s that for beautiful? Congrats to Lori, and congrats to my friend Beth Nielsen Chapman, who was inducted into the Nashville Songwriter’s Hall of Fame! Click HERE to watch: Humble and Kind.

One More Thing:

Please listen to this brand new song by Radney Foster, please. It’s an important song, and captures what is currently happening. Click HERE to watch: All That I Require

“Our voices matter during this election. We are stronger together.
As always, thank you for being a part of my journey.”

- Mary

Pride: Hope in The Midst of Tragedy | Summer 2016

Happy Summer!

This June, I once again had the honor of marching in Nashville’s Equality Walk as part of the City of Nashville’s Annual Pride Festival. Just two weeks after the horror in the gay bar in Orlando, the mood was hopeful and encouraging. Over 20,000 people attended the celebration, which included 100 new vendors, plenty of live music, and a delightful new Kids’ stage. Over 3,000 people showed up for the walk (1,000 more than last year) – including members the Metro Police Department, in uniform, for the first time.

I moved to Nashville in 2001, and the Nashville Pride event that year consisted of only a couple hundred people. Nashville has grown, yes, but more importantly, fear is being pushed back. Hope, the all important and necessary ingredient of liberty, continues to expand.

Every June, when I go to Pride, I am reminded of the importance of community and standing for what I believe in. There’s no going back. We have come too far.  People are good. Love is everywhere. Do not give up. Ever.

Human evolution is fueled by change. Dr. King believed the long arc of the moral universe bends towards justice. It is human change that arches the bow. For us to change collectively, we must evolve individually. The fuel that advances us is truth, in all its forms.

As a songwriter, and a songwriting teacher, I believe the most revolutionary act a songwriter can engage in is to simply be honest. Words matter. When paired with music that amplifies their meaning, they become passageways to hope: for the individual, the group, a nation, and the world.

Elie Wiesel said, “Hope is like peace. It is not a gift from God. It is a gift only we can give one another.” Truthtelling is necessary for a civilized society to remain civil. When artists are silenced, either through censorship, fear, or greed, it is the beginning of the end of freedom of speech. It heralds the dissolution of the collective spirit of a people.

No form of creative expression is more popular than songs. An education is not required to understand them- they are embraced by all strata of society. Great paintings may go unseen; great novels unread; but great songs have the most pronounced chance of crossing the divide, reaching in, and affecting multitudes.

Here’s to the truthtellers, the artists, and the songwriters; to all the brave souls on this planet that show up and report back from the front lines of the struggle for justice and truth. I am with you.

With Love,

Mary

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On Being's Parker Palmer discusses "Mercy Now"

Parker Palmer Discusses “Mercy Now” in his blog for Krista Tippett’s On Being Public Radio Podcast:

Click HERE to read the full article. Excerpt below:

MERCY NOW

BY PARKER J. PALMER (@PARKERJPALMER), COLUMNIST

Over the past ten days, as yet another tsunami of gun violence and senseless death has swept the U.S., I’ve found myself growing more silent.

…In the midst of my daily work, I’ve also spent time walking in the woods, reading poetry, and listening to music. One song in particular, Mary Gauthier’s “Mercy Now,” has been especially healing for me. I listen to it several times a day for the strange solace that catharsis can bring, a release without answers. I share it here in the hope that others will find it helpful, too.

About On Being (www.onbeing.org/about):

“On Being is a Peabody Award-winning public radio conversation and podcast, a Webby Award-winning website and online exploration, a publisher and public event convener. On Being opens up the animating questions at the center of human life: What does it mean to be human, and how do we want to live? We explore these questions in their richness and complexity in 21st-century lives and endeavors. We pursue wisdom and moral imagination as much as knowledge; we esteem nuance and poetry as much as fact.”

Mercy (and Love): May 2016

Hello Again!

NYC and surrounding areas, look out for Three Women and the Truth.  We’re headed your way May 12-14.

Later this month I’ll be at the Strawberry Music Festival in California and the Kerrvillle Folk Festival in Texas.

And be sure to join me in June for a 3-Day Intensive Songwriting Workshop in Nashville. We still have a few spots available!

In the meantime, here is the latest update on my book, which I am continuing to write in between tour dates from planes, vans, hotel rooms & green rooms!

I wrote the story below as a student at a wonderful writing retreat last month.  Surrounded by other writers, and an amazing instructor, Suzanne Kingsbury, the words poured out of me, and on to the page.

Here’s a bit of what I came up with: "Mercy (and Love)"

Mercy and love are who we are, unwounded. Songwriting (and all the arts) are how we explore the depths of our being to ask the big questions of meaning, purpose and value. The process is one of self discovery, more than self expression.

When we choose to listen to the soft voice deep inside us, and surrender the ego to that gentle knowing, truth rises up through the gut, through the heart, through the soul, onto the page, into the song, onto the canvas, and out of the door, up and up and out, into the hearts of fellow travelers, who will receive it with gratitude because the truth is what's needed before all other things.

The need for truth is Primal, as necessary as food and water. And what is the truth? We belong to each other. We need each other. Mercy (and love)  are the roads we travel, home. Spirit blows truth through songwriters on the winds of the creative process, and our creations have the power to free us from untruths.

Dr. King began writing his mighty book "Strength to Love" when jailed for holding a prayer vigil outside Albany City Hall. In his jail cell, Dr. King wrote, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.” So it was then, so it is now.

We are all writing from one kind of jail cell or another, working to free ourselves.

Our songs are conversations, not sermons. They move out into the world as dialogues, not only to entertain, but to engage. They come to us to show us the way, and we offer them as gifts, generosities, to those who might receive them.

As always, thank you for being a part of my journey!
~ Mary Gauthier

Steve Dawson's Music Makers & Soul Shakers Podcast

I was honored to be featured on Steve Dawson's "Music Makers and Soul Shakers" Podcast recently. From the website: Steve Dawson, a guitarist/producer from Canada, now living in Nashville, has launched a new podcast entitled “Music Makers and Soul Shakers”. The 5th episode, featuring Mary Gauthier, is now up for free download from iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts from. The show is a longform interview about Mary’s music, history and songwriting process. There’s also a little jam at the end with Steve and Mary playing her song “Last of the Hobo Kings”. Subscribe to the podcast for weekly episodes featuring artists, musicians, producers and more from all over the Americana music spectrum!

In Episode 5, songwriter Mary Gauthier drops by The Henhouse in Nashville for a wide-ranging conversation about her unorthodox path in the music business that didn't start until she was 40! She has had songs on Grammy winning albums, and had them covered by artists as diverse as Jimmy Buffet and Bettye LaVette. Mary has recorded a number of exceptional albums, working with some heavy-hitters in the production world, such as Joe Henry and Gurf Morlix. Her latest album, Trouble and Love is some of her finest work to date. Mary and Steve discuss her songwriting process, how she approaches making records, some of her studio experiences, her new book and some of the hurdles she has overcome to go from being a successful chef and restaurant owner to one of the most respected songwriters of her generation. At the end of the interview, Mary and Steve pick up the guitars and perform her song "Last Of The Hobo Kings".

Click HERE to Listen!

Radio Heartland Studio: 4/16/Songs have always been a way for me to create a connection with people, and I think connections are how we heal.

Click HERE to Listen to my April Radio Heartland Studios Interview and Performance with Mike Pengra on Minnesota's Public Radio. From the Minneapolis Public Radio Website: "Songs have always been a way for me to create a connection with people, and I think connections are how we heal." – Mary Gauthier

“Songs have always been a way for me to create a connection with people, and I think connections are how we heal.”

— Mary Gauthier

I checked off another "Radio Heartland Bucket List Interview" this week when singer-songwriter Mary Gauthier stopped in the studio. Mary's songwriting is legendary amongst her fans and peers for its honesty and grit. Her life story is one filled with chapters about love, loss and courage. She only started songwriting in her mid-30s and has had her songs covered by some of the best folk and country musicians in the industry.

Mary was abandoned at birth and raised in an unhappy home, to say the least. She ran away as a teenager and struggled with her sexual identity and with chemical abuse. She became a gourmet chef after getting a handle on her addiction and finally, she became a songwriter at the age of 35. She writes songs that come from her heart and touch the lives of her listeners.

Her latest album is Trouble and Love from 2014. The record is a journey starting at the end of a relationship and winding its way through the darkness till there's light at the end of the tunnel.

I was lucky enough to sit eight feet in front of Mary when she played … and when she finished, there wasn't a dry eye in the room.

Songs Performed

"Last of the Hobo Kings" "Another Train" "Mercy Now" Song 1 is from Mary Gauthier's 2007 album, Between Daylight and Dark; song 2 is from Gauthier's 2014 album, Trouble and Love; and song 3 appears on Gauthier's 2005 release,Mercy Now.

Hosted and produced by Mike Pengra Engineered by Michael Osborne Photos by Nate Ryan

Finding Emotional Truth: April 2016

Happy Spring!

I’m in the trenches with my book, arm wrestling big ideas, trying to makes sense of them on paper. The chapter I’m working on now deals with the concept of emotional truth, or story truth, as opposed to literal truth. It’s a doozy. Here’s some of what I’ve worked out:

“Extracting the true from the false is at the core of songwriting, and even when the writer works through fantasy and fiction, (and most of us do) emotional truth is the right basis of it. It’s paradoxical, but oftentimes the best way to demonstrate emotional truth is through made up tales. We use melody and metaphor to point to experiences that there are no words for.

Everyone knows fiction is fabrication. But everyone also knows that fiction and falsehood aren’t the same things. Enduring works of literature generate very real emotional experiences that transcend the place and time in which they were written. Ditto songs. Resonance is a sympathetic response, a heartfelt connection, and like stories, songs succeed when we believe them. This heartfelt connection has little to do with facts. When we love a song, we could care less if anything in it ever actually happened. The connection is not based in reason. It’s based in emotion.”

Here's an example of a song I made up, where none of the events happened, but the story is true: Our Lady of the Shooting Stars.

As always, thank you for being a part of my journey. This month I’m headed to Minnesota solo, and then Texas with Eliza Gilkyson and Gretchen Peters as part of the Three Women and the Truth Tour. I will be in New York the last weekend of Aprilwith Dr. Bessel Van Der Kolk to run a trauma healing workshop we’ve named "Trauma: Embodiment, Synchrony and Finding Your Voice" at The Garrison Institute.

I hope to see you down the road! Visit www.marygauthier.com/tour for more details on my upcoming shows. Thank you!

Inspiration In The Rockies: March 2016

Hello Again!

I am on my way back to the Canadian Rockies this week! I am looking forward to performing shows in Alberta this month, including three dates with Sam Baker and one with Eliza Gilkyson.

I have drawn inspiration from this beautiful landscape and creative environment for my book, and am excited about the potential for a new project affiliated with The Banff Centre and friends Sam Baker, Jim White and Minton Sparks.

As I continue to teach songwriting in Banff and collaborate with other great writers in this tremendous setting, I am able to finally put to words some of my most important realizations about the mystery of writing songs.  As a result, my book is starting to take shape now, and is starting to look more like a manuscript than a pile of thoughts that don't connect. Writing a book still feels like writing the longest song ever attempted, but my brain thinks in song, and I'm going with the flow!

Thanks again for following along on my journey and for all of your support and feedback as I explore this new territory. Below is an excerpt from the latest draft of my book. In the meantime, I hope to see you in Alberta this month or down the road this spring and summer!

~~~~~ "Songwriting is an art unto itself, and vision is what’s most important. A basic understanding of craft is necessary, but the art of songwriting is not about mechanics. The art is not about singing, guitar playing, or mastery of any instrument. It’s not about performance, show business, or even entertainment. It’s not about reading or writing music. The art of song is about combining vision, ideas and truth in an effort towards wholeness.

Basic knowledge of music and melody is helpful, but songwriting doesn’t require a music education. Emotional literacy is what matters. There are generations of timeless songs “written” by illiterate songwriters, and brilliant songwriters who don’t play any instruments at all. Irving Berlin, the composer of countless beloved standards couldn't read or write music. He played almost entirely in the key of F-sharp, allowing him to stay on the black keys as much as possible.

At the end of the day, songwriting is conjury. The conjurer is often as mystified as anyone as to where our creations come from. We often can’t explain how we do what we do because we don’t fully understand it ourselves. But in the right mood, with the right frame of mind, there’s a feeling of being an antenna, receiving, then transmitting, receiving, then transmitting. Great songs are more than words and music. Welded together just right, they become emotional electricity.

Songs are music and words glued together with magic. Songwriters apply the glue."

Please visit my Tour Page for all of the details about my upcoming shows in Alberta!

Thank you! - Mary

Snowed In, Nashville Style: February 2016

Hello Friends & Hello February!

I hope you are all staying warm! The Nashville blizzard came at the perfect time for me. Being snowed in provided me an opportunity to focus deeply on rewriting a chapter in my book called The Power and the Glory.

I am closing in on this chapter, and would like to share an excerpt with you:

"I see songwriting as a kind of midwifery. Like children, songs show up knowing who they are. I make choices that influence them, but the songs arrive with personalities of their own. So, if songs are coming from somewhere else, my work is to be a receiver. With lightening rod in hand, I conduct electricity by collecting the flashes of ideas. As I work, I ride the edge between what I know, and what hasn’t happened yet. As I step over that line and create something from nothing, I get the sense that I am co-creating. I do not know what the electricity flowing through me will manifest, or what my efforts at conducting it will light up. Often, it is nothing at all! I am not in charge of the flow. I cannot switch it on or off. All I can do is show up, and direct my focused effort into it, and believe in the process.

Sometimes I sit at my writing desk for hours before I can access the state of mind where I am not “writing”, but instead, I am listening. There is a deep and profound mystery at the core of song creation, a sacred riddle. Each song makes requests of me, through my knowing, my gut, or solar plexus. My job is to remain authentic. It is the third chakra that helps me get rid of my lies. When I write untruths into a song and stray from the path of authenticity, my gut feels it. It senses the falseness and sends me a message to work harder. My job as a songwriter then, is to rid my song of my dishonesty. This is neither simple nor easy - the process is almost always one of discovery. I must work to see what I have not yet seen. Every song is a new beginning, a new life entering the world."

My experience with book writing is much like songwriting. I seem to be following the trail of something that wants to exist in a certain form, and my job is to receive it. As I write a chapter, the chapter becomes ripe and heavy and splits into the next chapter, like fruit falling off a tree. The process is rather amazing!

As always, thank you for being a part of my journey.
~ Mary Gauthier

Songwriting As A Healing Art: January 2016

Happy New Year, and Hello Sweet 2016!

A HUGE THANK YOU to everyone who came out to one of my live shows in 2015, and to all who have supported my efforts along the way! I am grateful for you.

As we turn the corner into 2016, I am already busy working on my book, The Art of the Song. I’m smoothing out sentences, shaping them into paragraphs, and stacking paragraphs into chapters.

It’s starting to feel like I am writing the longest song EVER. Having never written a book, I’m learning as I go. I’m digging down deep into the songwriting process, describing writing as a healing art form and telling stories along the way.

Here are a few excerpts from my initial drafts of the book:

Good songwriting is about telling the truth in an interesting way. It springs from love, hope, and oftentimes desperation. It is about discovery.

Songwriting is an art and a craft, but foremost an art, and artists should not be neutral. An artist should be committed to humanity and emotional honesty, always aiming for truth in their work. A songwriter’s relationship with both the song and the listener is based on trust, and that trust is a sacred bond. Songs are more than just sweet undulations or sale-able entertainment products - they are powerful medicines that serve to connect us to ourselves, to each other, and to something bigger.

Songwriting is one of the healing arts. Songs affect attitude, emotional state, outlook, and way of being. They are vibrations from a higher world, which we humans have been given the power to invoke.

Thank you for being a part of my journey! I will keep you posted as my book unfolds. May this new year be full of truth, discovery, healing and many opportunities to share your authentic voice.

In the meantime, I hope to see you out on the road in 2016!

Sitting in Elvis Presley’s 1963 Rolls Royce

Veteran Jamie Trent and I, in the back of Elvis’ 1963 Rolls Royce! Filmmaker Eugene Jarecki filmed us in the back seat, riding around playing "Bullet Holes," the song we wrote together.

Eugene is making a movie about Elvis and America. We rode around in the old girl for hours being interviewed and playing music!

Working For The Greater Good = Joy

Pictured L to R: Iraq War Combat Veteran Rob Spohr, Iraq War Combat Veteran Josh Geartz, Veteran Airlift Command Volunteer Pilot Joe Bartosiak, SW:S Songwriter Mary Gauthier, SW:S Songwriter James House, Violin Player Kate Lee.

I was honored to perform on the Grand Ole Opry at The Ryman Saturday, November 28th - the night of the Opry's 90th Birthday.

I brought some friends with me, including Combat Veteran Josh Geartz, who fought in The Iraq War and co-wrote "Still On The Ride" with me, and Singer-Songwriter James House, both of whom I met through Songwriting With Soldiers (SW:S).

The fiddle player Kate Lee, the Opry Band and the Opry Singers also joined us onstage. It quickly became a night for the ages.

As I sang the first lines of "Still On The Ride" the room became electrically charged. I could feel people emotionally reacting to the words.

Looking back now, who the hell knows Where the soul of a dead soldier goes

Josh sat stage right and began to play harmonica, and as James and Kate and I sang the words of the first chorus, I felt an even deeper energetic tightening.

I shouldn't be here, you shouldn't be gone But it's not up to me who dies and who carries on I sit in my room, and I close my eyes Me and my guardian angel are still on the ride

The sold out Ryman had converged. Audience, musicians, employees and ushers had become one, mesmerized by the power of Josh's story. I glanced down at the front row, and men were fighting back tears.

James and Kate and I finished singing the second chorus and then KABOOM, the drums and bass came crashing in loud for the solo, raising the hair on the back of my neck and nearly lifting the ceiling off the Ryman.

It was glorious music, expressing the will to live, the urgency of our need to believe, uplifting, defiant, hopeful in the face of trauma and loss.

I looked over at Josh, wireless mic in his hands, harmonica between his lips, and he looked over and smiled at me under his hat. It was a moment I will never forget.

As the last note of the song rang out, the audience jumped to their feet, many with tears on their cheeks. They clapped and cheered, the house lights came on and off, and the clapping and cheering got louder. The band looked at Josh, put their instruments down, stood up and started clapping. I did the same.

It was a classic Opry moment, a sustained standing ovation, a deep acknowledgement of a single Veteran's service, a thank you to all Veterans who serve, and a 90th Birthday Celebration of the greatest long-running musical institution America has ever known.

I snuck out to the gift shop after the first show to try and buy a show poster for Josh, and was immediately swarmed by people who'd seen the performance, many of them Vietnam Veterans. They wanted to thank Josh, thank the Opry, thank Songwriting With Soldiers, and hug me.

I mumbled a few words about gift shop and a poster and suddenly a dozen people were handing me their newly purchased show posters, for me to give to Josh. I accepted one, thanked the person who gave it to me, took some pictures with folks, and made my way backstage to prepare for the second show.

It happened again at the second show - ovation, tears and emotional connection! What a night!

A little taste of heaven on earth: a sense of purpose bigger than us all. Josh kept saying how much he felt like his story could help other Veterans and how much he felt a part of something bigger than himself. That's how we all felt.

Teamwork made this event possible. Songwriting With Soldiers brought us together. Veterans Airlift Command provided free air transportation, flying Josh and fellow SW:S Combat Veteran Rob Spohr to Nashville from New York pro bono, and the Opry opened their arms and graciously worked with us to make the night possible.

In a time when almost all the news on TV is bad, when we are on the verge of new wars, new terror attacks and new threats of all kinds of violence, I am grateful for the power of song to open hearts, and for the power of love to bring us together.

In the end, it's simple really. Working with others for the greater good = Joy.

Click HERE to listen to "Still On The Ride," co-written by Mary Gauthier and Josh Geartz.

On The Air This Week: eTown Podcast, 12/2-12/8

Be sure to visit www.etown.org beginning December 2nd to watch Mary Gauthier's "On The Air This Week" podcast, taped September 27th in front of a live audience in Boulder, Colorado. The podcast will stream on the eTown website until December 8th, will be available on iTunes and will air on over 300 stations.

All photos by Kirsten Cohen.

Learning How To Listen: November 2015

Last week I spent a morning with Josh Gertz and his service dog Coda at the Songwriting With Soldiers Retreat in Rennselaerville, NY. We wrote a song called “Still On The Ride,” which portrays Joshua’s story of loss, perseverance, courage and survival, and his belief in a guardian angel that saved his life. Over the weekend, I also wrote a song with Kevin Reeder and Rudyard Edik, making for a total of three new songs in a day and a half. A privilege, and thrill, and a sacred trust. A huge thank you to the vets for sharing your stories with us. Click HERE to listen to "Still On The Ride."

The soldier’s songs have become a part of me. As I sing them from town to town, each of them resonates a powerful truth: Songs change lives.

An emotionally honest song has the power to wormhole its way deep into the heart. And then, like water on a seed, the heart changes the mind. Souls are reshaped, enlarged, by a simple song. Something new is born. Connections are made. Bridges are built.

At first glance the work seems simple: sit with a veteran, ask them about themselves, and write a song based on what they say. Use their words as the foundation. Listen for a title, encourage them to keep talking until I can discern the emotional bottom line of their story, play a couple of chords that sound like that emotion, come up with verses and a chorus, and then make it rhyme.

But after doing that, something complex happens, and I don’t fully understand it. Something extraordinary enters the room, something bigger than both of us. The song is born in that hallowed place.

It happens fast, and it happens almost in a trance. I barely remember writing these songs. Writing with a veteran is like walking an emotional labyrinth. An exchange takes place in the entanglement. There is soul-to-soul contact.

As I sit and listen to the stories they carry, my chest swells with love. Bearing witness to someone’s story is profound. Truly listening is a magnetic and strange thing, a creative force. Listening compels the real story to come out. There’s nothing else quite like this humbling process. Maybe this is why I love this work so much, because it is teaching me how to truly listen.

A New Book Deal! October 2015

Friends, I am excited to announce that I have signed a book deal with Yale University Press! Steve Wasserman, the Editor of Yale Press, approached me and asked if I would write for them. My answer was a shrill, high-pitched, girly-sounding YES!

We signed the deal last week.

My book will be about songwriting and the creative process, and will take shape as I proceed. I have no master plan. When I write a song, I follow the clues in front of me, as they always take me somewhere.  I’m trusting the same process for book writing. As I head into the deep woods of something I always wanted to do but have never done, I’m doing my best to stay steady. I have a year to complete the project.  I will continue to play weekend shows, work on songs with Veterans through the wonderful Songwriting With Soldiers organization, and teach, but during the week I’ll be at my desk, book writing.

I’m a bit intimidated, a bit terrified, and truly thrilled about this new development in my world! I’ll keep y’all posted.

Folk Festivals & Friends: September 2015

September Greetings! In Denmark last week at the Tonder Festival, I had the privilege of swapping songs with Chris Smither, Butch Hancock, Hans Theessink, JT Van Zandt and Richard Dobson, and I felt right at home in a city I’d never been to before.

As a musician who travels solo most of the time, playing Summer Folk Festivals is a great opportunity to connect with my fellow travelers.

When the road has me worn down, when my body hurts and I can’t even remember what time zone I am in, seeing my musical friends renews me like nothing else.

This summer I played festivals in Norway, Canada, Denmark, and around the US. Performing on the big outdoor stages in front of large audiences is exciting and often amazing, and spending time with my community is food for my soul. I've had a wonderful summer.

The music community seemed so vast and overwhelming when I first got started on the road 15 years ago. I felt like a new kid at a new school, knowing no one, while all the other kids had known each other for years. Now, I’m a grateful member of worldwide tribe of creative artists and musicians.

Connection to community is important to me and becomes more so every year. I never expected that a community of artists would become my life when I became a performing songwriter, but musicians know each other, and form networks, and the networks form a global community. We really are citizens of the world. Swapping songs and stories with my friends has become one of my life’s greatest joys.

JOIN OUR COMMUNITY

I’m offering a songwriting workshop in Nashville on October 1, 2, and 3, if you’d like to come down and get your own full serving of what it feels like to be submerged in group of creative people. We form a tight bond, and the community lives on long after the workshop is over. CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS ON SONGWRITING WORKSHOP

Also, I will be performing with friends at The Americana Festival in Nashville, Tennessee September 16-19th. If you’re in town, come on down to the Country Music Hall of Fame's Ford Theatre Saturday, September 19th at 11:30 am. I will be offering a Songwriter's Session where I will talk about songwriting and playing and will answer your questions. I have a couple of other events during the conference as well. CLICK HERE FOR AMERICANA SCHEDULE

I hope to see you soon! Thank you for being a part of my journey!

Life In The Balance: August 2015

“Well, you’re being very calm about it,” Michele my violin/viola player said, as we stood on stage at our sound check in Calgary, staring down at the empty spot in my guitar case, where my guitar should have been. I was speechless, thinking well, this is a first. I’ve flown my guitar case to Canada, but not my guitar. It was still sitting on the stand, in my music room in Nashville. It was such a huge oversight on my part that it was almost funny.

I’d been in Norway for 4 days before coming to Calgary, in 6 time zones in less than a month, 16 cities in the US and Canada prior to Norway, my knee was killing me from too much driving, and my brain was in a fog.

It took a while for my mistake to become real.

When I was able to speak, I said "Well, ok. Let's figure out what to do." I called the local music store. We headed there quickly before they closed and rented a guitar for my Canadian tour dates.

And I finally got it.  It’s time for me to take a deep breath and relax.

I love my work, and am looking forward to my remaining 2015 tour dates, but later this year I am going to sit back and enjoy some of the fruits of my labor. I plan on doing more yoga, cooking dinners, and savoring some slow days and calm nights, reconnecting with my community, and taking December off. I am working on a book, which I will focus on in early 2016.

Work-life balance is a challenge for most of us, especially when we love our jobs. My choices as to what to do with my time are many, and they are all good options. When almost all of my focus is on my work, even though my job is my passion and I love it, it creates shortages in other areas. My community matters to me, my friends matter to me, my home matters to me, my music matters to me, touring matters to me, teaching matters to me, and working with the veterans matters to me. What a life!

I am certain I am not the only person juggling these questions and hard choices. Forgetting my guitar presented me with an opportunity - to fine tune, to adjust, and to really think about work-life balance. This is a discussion that will most certainly continue, and I'd love to hear your thoughts on it. How do you keep your life in balance?