"Still On The Ride," World Debut

4/1/18: World Debut: "Still On The Ride"

Today we are thrilled to debut the "Still On The Ride" video,
for the song I co-wrote with Veteran Josh Geartz at his first SongwritingWith:Soldiers Retreat.

The story behind "Still On The Ride" is an emotional one, full of tragedy, pain healing and restoration. Featured in the March 21st CBS This Morning episode "Healing The Emotional Wounds of War Through Song," I was able to describe the process of writing
"Still On The Ride" with Josh.

"There was one preeminent thing that really was bringing him to his knees...And that was the one of the death of his best friend,"
Gauthier said.

"I think the first line is kinda where you earned my trust, you know," Geartz told Gauthier. "She's trying to get the story, and like, I don't know, looking back on what comes to mind, I was like 'Who the hell knows?' And she goes, 'Good.' And you wrote down that first line." From there, everything Geartz had been holding in just poured out -- and into the song "Still On The Ride."

Looking back now, who the hell knows
Where the soul of a dead soldier goes
Guardian angels, maybe they're true
My guardian angel, maybe it's you

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, I close my eyes
Me and my guardian angel we're still on the ride

Click HERE or above to watch the "Still On The Ride" Video.

"Still On The Ride" is the 4th track on "Rifles & Rosary Beads," my new album that features 11 songs co-written with Combat Veterans and their families.

A portion of every sale goes to the non-profit SongwritingWith:Soldiers.

"Healing The Emotional Wounds of War Through Song:" April Newsletter

Mary Gauthier with James House, Veteran and Co-Writer Josh Geartz, Lisa Geartz and CBS Film Crew at The Grand Ole Opry

"Healing The Emotional Wounds of War Through Song"

3/21/18: Click To Watch CBS This Morning

Happy Easter!
Welcome To My April Newsletter!

"I looked out the window as the veterans were starting to arrive. And I saw Josh and Lisa pull up...and I saw the pain. And I'm looking out my window. My first thought was, 'He's mine'...I have to write with that guy!" I remembered. "It was almost like a red hot fireball was inside of him. And I knew that the song could take that red hot fireball and make it tangible and we could toss it out into the group, and it would not only take some of the infection out of him, but it would give courage to the group and be useful for other people."

On March 21st, CBS This Morning aired "Healing The Emotional Wounds of War Through Song," as part of their "A More Perfect Union" Series. The episode, which reached 4 million viewers, featured Veteran and Co-writer Josh Geartz, and the work we've done through SongwritingWith:Soldiers. The CBS This Morning producer said "it made him cry, it's so damn good," and "it's the first time he ever teared up editing his own work." 

Watch this week's episode of CBS This Morning, "Healing the Emotional Wounds of War Through Song," by clicking HERE or the link above.

The Tour Continues!

We are so grateful for so many SOLD OUT shows in March! Thank you for coming to see us in the Midwest and on the West Coast.

My Album Release Tour continues April 18th in Portland, Maine. Please visit the full tour schedule below for all of the details.

For my local friends, I have a few events coming up in Nashville, including a Live, In-Store Performance at Grimey's on Thursday, April 5th, at 6PM.

We hope to see you soon! Thank you for all of your support!
~ Mary

4/1/18: World Debut: "Still On The Ride"

Today we are thrilled to debut the "Still On The Ride" video,
for the song I co-wrote with Veteran Josh Geartz at his first SongwritingWith:Soldiers Retreat.

The story behind "Still On The Ride" is an emotional one, full of tragedy, pain healing and restoration. Featured in the March 21st CBS This Morning episode "Healing The Emotional Wounds of War Through Song," I was able to describe the process of writing
"Still On The Ride" with Josh.

"There was one preeminent thing that really was bringing him to his knees...And that was the one of the death of his best friend,"
Gauthier said.

"I think the first line is kinda where you earned my trust, you know," Geartz told Gauthier. "She's trying to get the story, and like, I don't know, looking back on what comes to mind, I was like 'Who the hell knows?' And she goes, 'Good.' And you wrote down that first line." From there, everything Geartz had been holding in just poured out -- and into the song "Still On The Ride."

Looking back now, who the hell knows
Where the soul of a dead soldier goes
Guardian angels, maybe they're true
My guardian angel, maybe it's you

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, I close my eyes
Me and my guardian angel we're still on the ride

Click HERE or above to watch the "Still On The Ride" Video.

"Still On The Ride" is the 4th track on "Rifles & Rosary Beads," my new album that features 11 songs co-written with Combat Veterans and their families.

A portion of every sale goes to the non-profit SongwritingWith:Soldiers.

The New York Times - "After War, Three Chords and The Truth"

Mary Gauthier with Veteran and Co-Writer Josh Geartz on stage in Franklin, TN
Photo by Kyle Dean Reinford for The New York Times

3/5/18: "After War, Three Chords and the Truth" - The New York Times
Click Here to Read Full Article

Welcome to My March Newsletter! Happy Spring! 

What an honor to welcome Veterans Josh Geartz and Britney Pfad at our sold out "Rifles & Rosary Beads" Album Release Show at The Franklin Theatre in Franklin, Tennessee on Friday, February 23rd. Josh, who traveled to Franklin from Buffalo, New York with his family, received a standing ovation when he joined us onstage to play harmonica during "Still On The Ride," the song he co-wrote with me at his first SongwritingWith:Soldiers Retreat.

Album producer Neilson Hubbard and Joshua Britt presented a special screening of their "Rifles & Rosary Beads" Documentary, which recently won the Inspiration Award at the 2018 Cinema On The Bayou Film Festival in Lafayette, Lousiana.

Thank you to everyone involved for making the Album Release Show a very memorable evening!

The reviews of Rifles & Rosary Beads are in, and the response to this record has been tremendous. I've included Press Highlights below, with links to each article.

Read this week's full article in The New York Times, "After War, Three Chords and the Truth," by clicking the link above.

A portion of every sale goes to the non-profit SongwritingWith:Soldiers,
and I've already given them a check for $8,000!

The Album Release Tour continues this week, and I hope to see you at one of our upcoming shows. I am heading to Chicago, Columbus, Ann Arbor, and Pittsburgh this week, and and then to the West Coast on March 18th! Please visit the full tour schedule on the TOUR page for all of the details.

Thank you for all of your support!
~ Mary

Press Highlights

"...She has roamed the same dark roads as Bruce Springsteen on 'Nebraska' and Neil Young on 'Tonight's the Night'...she has a knack for devastating details, populating her lyrics with crucible kisses, ravaged rings, hissing heat pipes, vulture shadows..."
-Chicago Tribune

"The songs on 'Rifles & Rosary Beads are folk songs framed in Gauthier's smoky vocals. They go a long way to revealing the underlying traumas of a soldier's experience serving in a war while also laying bare the equally traumatic experiences of their loved ones." 
-Chicago Sun Times

"You'll be hard-pressed to hear a more powerfully moving work than Rifles & Rosary Beads - this year, or any other."
-LA TIMES

"The replacement of ready-made, comfortable niceties about the military, or generalized criticism of that life, with riveting, occasionally harrowing specifics from real lives as lived now is the strongest sort of musical salute to those who have served or stood by them. The finesse Mary Gauthier brings to this engrossing music makes this album a landmark."
-THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

"...Her new record is a gift in a contemporary moment full of chatter and political rhetoric. It shows how simply telling what happened can cut through the divisions that distract us. Rifles & Rosary Beads is the product of compassion and a call for more compassion at a time when it's needed most."  
-Ann Powers, NPR World Cafe

Listen on NPR.org

NPR World Cafe - Reworking Trauma: Mary Gauthier Tells Veteran Stories on 'Rifles & Rosary Beads'

Happy February!

Thank you so much for your support of my new record, Rifles & Rosary Beads! Co-written with Veterans and their families, Rifles & Rosary Beads has already made its way around the world. The reviews are coming in every day, and we thought we would share some of the highlights from the press with you. Click on each link below to read the articles.

Also, I'm looking forward to seeing my East Coast friends this week, with shows in New York City, Boston, Vienna and Annapolis, in support of my new record. We have a whole list of dates lined up, including our Album Release Show on February 23rd in Franklin, Tennessee! You can find tickets and see where we'll be next at www.marygauthier.com.

Press Highlights

"The importance of this effort cannot be overstated."
-Country Standard Time

"The album's honesty and insight into an often overlooked aspect of American democracy - the on-the-ground experiences of soldiers and, especially, the aftermath of their time in combat - is a gift in a contemporary moment full of chatter and political rhetoric."
-NPR World Cafe

"Rifles & Rosary Beads' gives veterans and their spouses a voice, a chance to find in song the words that foster growth in the midst of trauma...Gauthier and her co-writers deliver an album of songs that momentarily make the burdens of these men and women lighter, for in these songs they've found the care and empathy of a listening stranger who sits not in judgment but embraces in love." 
-No Depression

Mary Gauthier with Veteran and Co-Writer Jamie Trent

Reviews Around the World

"När Mary Gauthier skriver sånger tillsammans med amerikanska militärveteraner hittar hon kvaliteter långt bortom de terapeutiska, samtidigt som hon känns igen rent musikaliskt."
- Dagens Nyheter, Sweden, 1/26/18

"Pensez The Ghost of Tom Joad à la rencontre d’Universal Soldier, en plus cru, en plus nu, en plus tendre aussi. Un album essentiel."
 - Le Devoir, Canada, 2/2/18

"Ingen kan rimligtvis ta miste på att Mary Gauthier brinner både för låtarna och historierna de ger offentligt liv åt och det gör ”Rifles & Rosary Beads” till en av hennes starkaste skivor hittills."
 - Mono Magasin, Sweden, 12/13/17

We Are Not Alone: Lessons From 2014

Hello and Happy New Year!

In 2014, I released Trouble and Love. I hand-carried my brand new record to 125 towns, playing my new songs in theatres, cafés, coffee shops, bars and on radio shows around the world. I led 9 songwriting workshops in 3 countries, participated in 4 Songwriting with Soldiers Retreats, and played the Grand Ole Opry 4 times. One of the highlights was sharing the lineup at The Opry with 10-year-old Fiddling Carson Peters, pictured here. What a year!

Now that I have been home resting for a few weeks, lessons from my travels are beginning to crystalize. I guess most of these have been building up inside me for years, but this is the first time I’ve sat down and made a lesson list. I look at them as gifts -- as the building blocks of wisdom.

Here are my Top 10 Lessons From 2014:

1. There is no such thing as an ordinary life.
2. Songs are more than songs--they are the great human connectors of our time.
3. Songs transcend all manner of boundaries. They speak a universal language.
4. Songs heal. They are pieces of the soul reaching through eternity, to heal the heart.
5. Resonance is my/our deepest desire.
6. An emotionally-true song resonates to the core, to the central, innermost, or most essential part of us.
7. Emotional truth is not about the facts. It is about being genuine, authentic, and vulnerable.
8. At our center, we are the same. Songs are conduits for compassion and empathy, a road map into a stranger’s heart, which upon inspection - mirrors our own heart.
9. A three-and-a-half minute song can temporarily bring us us to a place that does not yet exist here on earth, a place where we are safe, connected, and of one heart.
10. At their best, songs breathe life into a precious idea: that we are not alone, that other people have felt and feel the way we do, and that all of humanity is made of the same mysterious, electrical, spirit infused stardust. And songs are the people’s instrument of choice- to express the wonder of it all.

Thank you for joining me on my musical journey and for being a part of this community of song. I’m looking forward to seeing you in 2015!

~ Mary Gauthier

Photo: Mary Gauthier with 10-Year Old Fiddling Carson Peters, Backstage at The Grand Ole Opry, 9/13/14

Pre-Order Bettye LaVette's Worthy

Beth Neilsen-Chapman and I are so proud to have co-written the title track, "Worthy," of Bettye LaVette's new studio album, to be released January 26th! Rightly known as one of the finest R&B/blues vocalists of our time, Bettye takes "Worthy" to a whole new level with her soulful and powerful interpretation, singing from the depths of her legendary voice. Hearing Bettye sing "Worthy" has been a truly gratifying experience. If ever there were a voice exactly right for this song, it's hers. What an honor for us, as songwriters, to have this experience.

Produced by Joe Henry, the album also features tracks written by Mick Jagger & Keith Richards, Bob Dylan, John Lennon & Paul McCartney and more.

The track listing for the album is: 1. Unbelievable 2. When I Was a Young Girl 3. Bless Us All 4. Stop 5. Undamned 6. Complicated 7. Where a Life Goes 8. Just Between You Me and the Wall You're a Fool 9. Wait 10. Step Away 11. Worthy

You can pre-order the album now via the links for both formats below.

Deluxe CD-DVD edition: http://hyperurl.co/7ljeiz CD edition: http://hyperurl.co/0caxh7

"Bettye is a voice from the wilderness." - Pete Townshend

"With every song on 'Worthy," Bettye finds the thread that first will unravel it. Then she stitches it all back together until it fits her taut frame and fierce stride, until it bends to meet her; until each song's story is somehow, miraculously, telling her own." - Joe Henry

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

Standing Ovations & Cold Sweat

Somewhere along the way of my seven-week, five-country, 33-show tour of Europe, I started taking a picture of the audience after my bow, before I leave the stage, during the ovation. Ovations used to terrify me. When they first started happening in my career, fear crawled up my spine like electricity, cold sweat formed on my skin, and the need to run overtook me. I’d bow quickly, mumble a panicked, “Thanks y’all” and exit the stage as fast as I could.

Believe it or not, it was not easy to let in the applause. It frightened me, I wanted to shoo it away. It felt narcissistic, like too much ME, so self-indulgent it was embarrassing. I felt unworthy of it, I felt like a fraud, a fake.

I worked diligently to write songs that emotionally connected, but when they did their job, it unhinged me.

The third wall (that space separating the audience from the performance, traditionally an imaginary wall completing the enclosure of the stage) comes down in an ovation, and for that joyful moment, we are united, songwriter, musicians, listeners, as one.

An artist’s work is to be a conduit for human connection, and at the end of most nights’ work I can feel this oneness, alive in the room, in our hearts. Songs are bigger than songs; music is more than music.

Our lives all contain experiences we struggle to understand and come to terms with: tender wounds, concealed scars, unresolved longings, jagged fault lines. Songs speak in the mother tongue, the language of the human heart.

We are attracted to stories and songs because they help explain the mystery of why we exist and how we turned out the way we have. A great song is a friend, a travelling companion we take with us when we go.

We want to thank the songwriter for this gift, so we stand, and say Bravo! It’s giving back - a reciprocity.

However, I was not prepared for the audiences’ emotions, or my own. It took years to figure out how to accept the loving energy of an ovation with grace, and return it graciously. It eventually occurred to me that it’s not ME that I stand there for - it’s WE, US, all of us mortal, all of us vulnerable. Somewhere along the way it occurred to me that letting love in is in itself an act of love.

Looking at the ovation pictures later, back at the hotel room, it makes me happy to see the smiling faces of the people standing up, sending love, joy-- beautiful LIFE energy. I can look it in the eyes now, and allow it in, send it back out, and embrace the moment without fear.

To reach for the stars, and not for the hand next to mine, is to miss the point of being an artist.

Thank you all for letting me, the kid who did not know how to be loved, grow up in front of you. It's an amazing journey.

No Depression Interviews Mary Gauthier

I was honored to be interviewed by No Depression's Kim Ruehl this month! Read "Songwriters on Songwriting" HERE.

The Power of Truth

Monday night I played a beautiful listening room called Morris Hall in the medieval town of Shrewsbury, England, the town that Charles Darwin was born in. I’m at the beginning of a seven-week tour of the UK and Europe, where I’ll be enjoying the stages of fine theatres in five different countries. It’s hard to believe that I’m the same person who used to be terrified of the stage, mortified…petrified…. The first time I played music on stage in front of an audience, a cold, clammy sweat formed on my forehead and upper lip, then spread down to my hands and fingers. My legs started shaking, and the trembling spread to my arms and the rest of my body. My saliva evaporated, and the inside of my mouth and throat became so dry I could have spit dust. My heart raced like galloping horses, pounding was all I could hear, and I came close to having a panic attack and bolting.

I was 35 years old and beginning to pursue a dream I’d had since I was a teenager, but it was a dream I’d never spoken out loud. I’d held it inside so deep that I forgot it was there, entombed and silent, covered by years of feeling of unworthy. I ignored it, buried it, and set off to do other things. It was a secret dream so dear to me that I dared not speak it—it would break my heart if it didn’t come true, so not acknowledging it was a way of trying to protect myself from disappointment. My secret? I wanted to be a songwriter.

I got sober at 28 years old, and my long buried truth started rising to the surface, asking to be reconsidered.

I carried my tangled, repressed dream onto the stage with me that first night, and it was too heavy to maneuver delicately. I buckled under the weight of it. I forgot the words, chords, and melody. I fought the impulse to run and survived my less than impressive debut, and became determined to get on stage again and do it better, but the terrors followed me, and stage fright choked me every time I got on stage. I was determined to find a way to overcome it, but over and over, I’d take the stage, plug in my guitar, and completely freak out.

It was a cold New England February night when I encountered a lesson in songwriting that helped me begin the process of breaking free from the stage fright horrors I suffered. I’d been playing songs at open mics for a year or so at this point, working hard to develop thicker skin--practicing the song I was going to play, over and over and over again. But once I left my living room for the stage, the terror always returned.

On this particular night, I was one of almost 100 people signed up to play the open mic at a venue outside of Boston called the Old Vienna Coffeehouse. Each songwriter was allowed to play one song. I drew a late number, real late. About two hours in, still waiting for my turn to play, a farmer type fellow took the stage with his guitar. He was much older than most of us, and quite heavy, in overalls and a ragged red checkered shirt buttoned up to his neck, a dilapidated straw hat with a hole in it, and dirty work boots. He was so big that it made his guitar look tiny.

No one cared when he started to play - we were waiting to play our own songs and get out of there. People tried not to groan as he stood on stage with his eyes closed, banged his guitar into the instrument mic during the first verse of his song, and sang in a shaky voice. The audience started talking loudly, ignoring him. But when he got to the words of his chorus, the entire room went silent. His words sliced through our indifference like a razor blade, we forgot our boredom, our impatience, ourselves. His honesty made us drop our judgment of his appearance and his limited musical ability. His song sucked all that scattered energy out of the room, focused us, and sang us to a sacred place. The Truth. He was singing about the loss of his wife, about how he felt now that she was gone.

“I’m gonna walk in the water 'til my hat floats away.”

All eyes were on him. Many were filled with tears. We believed him. He was telling us his truth in the way that made us feel our own. Our hearts opened, our eyes opened. And I learned…yes, finally, I got it, THIS is what my job is. Honest songs tell us what it means to be human, and it doesn’t matter who sings them, they are beautiful. From then on, to this very day, that’s what I try to do when I get on stage. Quit sweating the small stuff. Tell the truth, don’t worry about what people think about me, just be honest, and it’ll all work out.

Trouble and Love

Hello Everyone! I’ve officially kicked off the preview tour for my new release on Proper Records UK, and am in Europe right now doing interviews, shows, and teaching a songwriting workshop in Glasgow.

I started off in London, Camden and am now in Scotland where I got to perform in Paisley Abby—what a place to sing! It’s 850 years old, and has somehow survived that many years of human turmoil. I could not stop thinking about the thousands of WWI and WWII widows and children on their knees in that ancient Kirk. And those that came before them. 850 years of spook on top of spook on top of spook. I felt them in the resonance of the echoes at the end of each song. Thanks, Glasgow, for having me and to Paul Brady for letting me share the stage.

Pre-Order The New CD

My new record is called Trouble and Love, and will be in stores June 10. I’m offering signed pre-orders HERE, and they will be mailed in early June, before the record hits the streets. I co-produced this one myself with the brilliant engineer Patrick Granado, and I am very proud of this collection of songs. It's the best work I have done so far, I think.

I’m working with smart folks all over the world to make this record a success, and we’re having fun in the process. I will be posting a Lyric video of each of the 8 songs every Monday, so look for an email with a link each week starting April 21!

The Letter Series

CD Baby asked me to write the first letter for their “Letter Series,” which is based on Rainer Maria Rilke’s brilliant Letters To A Young Poet. I was honored to do so. Here’s what I came up with: Mary Gauthier’s Letter To A Young Songwriter.

April 19 is Record Store Day

I have teamed up with my friend Sam Baker for record store day, and we are splitting a 7-inch single, with very limited pressing. Sam’s song is on one side, mine on the other. My song is called “When A Woman Goes Cold,” and it’s the first cut off my new record.

You can pick one up at your local record store, or at CD Baby.com on April 19.^. But you need a real record player to play it! Visit the Record Store Day website to find a store near you.

Big Shows in L.A. & Zip Code Update

I’ll be performing at The Grammy Museum in Los Angeles on April 21. Hurry up and get tickets on these if you want to go, because it will sell out.

 Songwriting Workshop Update

My first Nashville Performing Songwriter Creative Workshop took place in February.

A huge thank you to the 20 students who came and shared themselves and their songs in my inaugural workshop. We had a jam-packed weekend as Lydia Hutchinson and I tried to balance showing off some of the people and places that make Nashville great, with deep intense song work. We kicked off the workshop with a pre Mardi Gras gathering to break the ice on Thursday Night. I made some Jambalaya and Jalapeno Cornbread, Lydia brought a Kings Cake and Mardi Gras beads, and we all spent a little time together before the workshop got started the following morning.

We started the first day bright and early working on students’ songs. The brilliant Don Henry helped me out in the afternoon, and then we ended the night at The Bluebird watching the great Don Schlitz weave his magic. Day two was spent working on songs and Gretchen Peters joined us as a guest speaker that afternoon before we all headed to dinner at Monell’s, one of my favorite Nashville family-style restaurants.

Sunday we worked even harder on songs and I tried to give the class as many tools for their writing tool kit as I had time to offer. We wrapped it up right before an ice storm with thunder sleet made the roads impassable—so some of our group ended up staying extra days and using it as a writing retreat.

My partnership with Performing Songwriter’s event guru Lydia Hutchinson will continue with another workshop in a couple of weeks. It’s sold out, but be sure to SIGN UP HERE if you want to be the first to know about any new upcoming events.

Check out the photo gallery from our workshop.

Thanks and look forward to seeing you on the road!

—Mary

Views, News and The Other Side of Fear

“Our fears are like dragons guarding our most precious treasures.”—Rainer Maria Rilke

VIEWS

The cold woke me up this morning. As in either I turn on the heater, or I need another blanket on this bed kind of cold. Fall is here in Nashville, and the chill in my house was the first of the season. The seasons are changing, and I’m changing too. I’ve taken some big steps into independence, self-reliance, and self-determination. It’s been scary, stepping up into career self management, letting go of the record company I was with, foregoing a producer and going into the studio and co-producing my own new record with an engineer (albeit a brilliant engineer!) —it’s a re-thinking, and re-doing of the way I’ve run my business for the last decade.

On the other side of the fear, as I walk through it, is a re-birth of my passion and love of my work. Can’t help but notice how the things we fear often are the very things we must walk through to grow. So often on the other side of fears sit gifts, unopened. I’m unwrapping some of those gifts days. They are as the poet Rilke described, “most precious treasures.” I have grown stronger in my step, stronger in my voice, stronger in my vision, stronger on stage solo.

NEWS

My new record is almost done. More details on this soon, but I brought in plenty trusted friends to help me, as record producers do! Duane Eddy came in to play this week, and wow, he was fantastic. The man who invented twang, playing one of my songs, it took my breath away. I love him dearly, and admire him deeply.

The Vinyl Version of LIVE at Blue Rock is available on my web site, signed.  It’s a two record set, pressed on super high quality thick vinyl, and it sounds terrific. I also have a few copies left of Mercy Now and Between Daylight and Dark vinyl records from my days as a Lost Highway artist and when those are gone, there will be no more made. So they are collectable now, I guess.

Mercy Now T-Shirts, in black or gray, are available from size small to XXL. Super soft, unisex, and comfortable. 100% Cotton

We got a new design on the Mercy Pick Necklace, and you can order them with some beads or a regular version without any. Here’s what the beaded ones look like:

I’ll be out on the road again soon, this time I’ll be on the West coast of the US. Be sure to check out the Tour Dates and hope to see you out there. As always, endless thanks for your support!

—Mary

"Nashville" and A New Record

Hello from the artist’s lounge in Ricky Skaggs Studio outside of Nashville, where I am in the process of wrapping up a new record. This will be my 7th release of new songs, and we’re doing it differently than I did the other ones. I’m co-producing this time, with the amazing Patrick Granado, and we’ve recorded to tape, with Viktor Krauss, Lynn Williams, and Guthrie Trapp as the core band. No click, cans, charts or ProTools. We’re cutting songs I’ve worked on for the last 18 months directly to tape with microphones from the ’50s. We will be wrapping up this project in a day or two. Then I have to make some business decisions: Do I go to labels with it, or put it out myself? I don’t have that answer just yet. First things first, and I’ll worry about that after we’re done. Either way, a new record is forthcoming.

In the news department, I am thrilled to report that I have placed a song on the ABC TV series Nashville. It will be sung this Wednesday Sept. 25 on the season opener by the wonderful Jonathan Jackson who plays the character Avery on the show. The song is called “How You Learn To Live Alone,” and I wrote it with my dear friend Gretchen Peters. So be sure to tune in! (Here’s me and handsome Jonathan at the Bluebird.)

I’ve come out with a Vinyl Version of LIVE at Blue Rock. It’s a two record set, pressed on the fine thick vinyl, and it sounds terrific. They are available now on my web site, signed. I have a few copies of Mercy Now and Between Daylight and Dark vinyl records from my days at Lost Highway as well, and when those are gone, there will be no more made. So they are collectable now, I guess.

I’m hitting the road again on Wednesday, headed east. Come on out to a show and say hello!

Greetings from Lyons

Greetings from Lyons Colorado, where I am in the middle of a fine week of teaching at the Song School and preparing to play the Rocky Mountain Folks Festival. The sky has offered up plenty color and beautiful Van Gogh swirls this week. Quite the show!

In the news department, I’ve come out with a Vinyl Version of LIVE at Blue Rock. It’s a two record set, pressed on the fine thick vinyl, and it sounds terrific. They are available now on my web site, signed. I have a few copies of Mercy Now and Between Daylight and Dark vinyl records as well, and when those are gone, there will be no more made. So they are collectable now, I guess.

We lost a true great this month, Cowboy Jack Clement. I met Cowboy Jack Clement when I moved to Nashville in 2001—I went looking for him. He invited me into his house, The Cowboy Arms & Recording Spa, and played me the movie that was made about his life, Shakespeare Was a Big George Jones Fan: Cowboy Jack Clement's Home Movies. We stayed up very late watching it, and he laughed out loud at all the funny parts and I couldn't believe I was sitting with him in his office in the middle of the night like we were old friends. It was surreal and as fine a way to start a friendship as I'd ever known. He played me some unreleased Louis Armstrong songs that he'd recorded, and we listened to some old Johnny Cash stuff, from the Sun years. What a welcome to Nashville that was, what a wonderful memory it will always be. Cowboy was the most original, eccentric, hysterical, visionary clown I've ever met. His contributions to the American songbook are immeasurable, and I doubt there'd be an Americana Genre without him. I'll be forever grateful that there ever was a Cowboy Jack … as unlikely a human being as God ever made. We had him for 82 years, and for that we can only say thank you, thank you.

Hope to see a lot of you during my upcoming travels. Be sure to check out the tour schedule, and as always thank you so much for all of your support. I'm forever grateful.

From the Carolinas to Copenhagen

Hello All! I’m writing from my hotel room in Belfast, Northern Ireland, having completed nearly two months of continuous tour dates from Copenhagen to the Carolinas, Stockholm to Shreveport—I’ve been moving fast out here. But my Irish tour is still ahead of me, and I’m off for a few days, sleeping late and moving slow today.

There’s constant motion on these long tours, with a typical day starting 15 minutes before the hotel breakfast ends. We run down and grab a quick bite, head back to the to the room, shower, pack, drag all the gear and suitcases out to the car, drive three or four hours, drag all the stuff out of the car into the next hotel, have about an hour to sit in the room, then get back into the car for soundcheck, toss down a quick dinner, play the show … wake up the next morning and repeat. Whew!

It’s got a rhythm and flow to it, though, and it’s as good a way as any to spend my days. I do love the structure and predictability of the routine even if the travel wears me down. But off days build me back up, and I can’t think of anything else I’d rather be doing.

Here are a few highlights of my past month and what I’ve been up to:

Paste Magazine did an interview about my about my recent adventures, called Catching up with Mary Gauthier. Be sure and check it out, and thanks to everyone at Paste for your continued support!

I played live on the air in Austin, at KUTX with Scott and Jo, and my old friend John Aielli conducting the interview. Here’s the stream of us playing Can’t Find the Way from that show.

We kicked off the European tour in Sweden on April 17, playing with the talented Ben Glover. Denmark was next, and here’s a beautiful sunset on the canal in a town called Brons. We played to a sold out house there before heading to Copenhagan for another sold-out show at the Pumpehuset. It was a great way to end the Danish run before heading off to Ireland.

I was asked to carry the Americana Music Association Banner on my 17-city tour of Europe. It is an honor for me to do so, and a joy for me to let audiences know a little more about the genre in which I perform, and to give them an introduction to the Americana Music Association, the non-profit trade group whose mission is to advocate for the authentic voice of American Roots music around the world.  Here’s a shot from the stage in Copenhagen.

I hope everyone is doing well and that I get to see you somewhere along the road. And as always, thank you so much for your support—it means more than I can say.

—Mary

21 Cities in 27 Days-- More On the Way.

I've been on a roll out here on the road, moving quickly from town to town to town, dodging winter storms, closed roads and cancelled flights. Winter touring is always a challenge, but we have not had to cancel any shows. We've dealt with a couple van break downs, dodgy sound systems, and scary Motels, but we've met wonderful folks every single night as my LIVE at Blue Rock tour with Scott Nolan and Joanna Miller proceeds onward.

From Minneapolis to Dallas, this run is on a roll!. We had a great time in Burlington, VT. at The Higher Ground, where I was honoured to meet Jon Fishman, founder and drummer for the band Phish, who came back stage to tell me he likes my song I Drink. I thoroughly enjoyed talking with him, and I'm honoured that he'd take the time to stop by.

(I snapped the mic shot below from the stage while I was at soundcheck).

Some stand out moments:  The night I made a joke on stage that I don't write dance songs, and a woman came up to me at the CD table after the show and told me that she met her dad for the first time when she was 40, he was dying of cancer, and they danced to Mercy Now.

The night I learned from a music therapist at a VA hospital in CT. that some of my songs were being sung by Vietnam Vets, who are calling themselves The Homefront Band,  and they won a Silver Medal in the National Veterans music competition with my song Sugar Cane. Congrats fellas!

Having Richard Shindell join us on stage with his electric guitar in Ashland VA. and "noodle" for 5 or 6 songs. Lets just say he is really, really good at noodling.

I have plenty more tourdates in front of me. We are headed to Georgia, Alabama, Florida Louisiana and Texas after Easter, then I head to Denmark, Sweden and Ireland with Ben Glover and Michele Gazich. I look forward to announcing two weeks of Canadian tourdates with Scott and Joanna in July, the details are still being sorted, but we are almost ready to announce.

For those who've been asking, I've added XXL T Shirts to the store.

The LIVE at Blue Rock CD is #11 on the Americana Music chart right now, which is an amazing feat for a Live CD. I wanna thank all the  stations and jocks that have been playing it. I wanna thank everyone everywhere thats helped me keep this little show on the road, it's a great job, and I am grateful to be able to keep doing it. I've got plenty new songs, and I'm playing a few of them every night, getting ready for the next studio record. The  LIVE at Blue Rock tour is keeping me busy right now, but I am looking at studio time to start cutting the new songs when I get off the road for a few weeks in June.

Onward!

A Texas Thanksgiving

I spent Thanksgiving with friends in Austin and in Wimberley, TX. Great food, great conversations and warm weather were a wonderful way to spend the holiday. The above is the beautiful quiet cabin in the Hill Country where I stayed. And here I am having fun with Sam Baker and Rodney Bursiel.

I was at Blue Rock Artists ranch for the release of the new edition of the Blue Rock Review. I am honored to say they've featured me in it, with lots of pictures and a long interview. It’s a beautiful publication, and ya'll should CHECK IT OUT.

It was a wonderful night of songs, poetry, stories, visual art, cookies, cake, coffee, hot cider, new friends, old friends and big big love of creativity and creative people. I took the stage with Tom Prasada-Rao and Danny Schmidt for the release show.

I hung with my pals Eliza Gilkyson and Tim O'Brien one night after Thanksgiving, and in this shot we kinda look like the potato eaters...

I got to hang with old friends Gurf Morlix and Sam Baker, and against all odds, I got them to start tweeting. I also got Scott Nolan to start tweeting, and I feel like the twitter team captain right now. I'm loving twitter. It's a great way to stay in touch with people everywhere simultaneously. You can join me on twitter at this address: @marygauthier_

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

P.S.—Check out my friend Claudia Corrigan D'Arcy's web site. She is an adoption rights activist and all round bad ass brave human, doing great work in this crazy world we live in. She was kind enough to feature my posting from last weeks song on her site.

Cotton and Biscuits in Lower Alabama

Woke up this morning in the deep south, lower Alabama ( LA ), in house the middle of cotton fields. So beautiful and yet such a tortured history. Wasn't long ago down here, Cotton was King. And all that entailed..the plantation culture the exploitation of human beings, the poverty shacks sharecropping and sorrow.  Ahhh, Lincoln, the war, the blood and the glory, such dark, rich history the cotton fields of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. I see so much more than plant when I look at cotton.

Played last night at The Frog Pond on Blue Hill Farm, a very, very cool place indeed!

This morning, our wonderful host Cathe Steele at the Blue Moon Farm House made us biscuits, bacon, eggs and coffee, and it sure felt like home.