THURSDAY - AUGUST 1ST!
War Memorial Auditorium | Nashville, TN
Doors at 7:00 / Show at 8:00
We’ll be singing songs written in collaboration with veteran participants and their families who attended SongwritingWith:Soldiers Retreats. The concert will be filmed for a PBS Special. www.songwritingwithsoldiers.org/pbsconcert.
For tickets and more info, text "SWS" to 444-999.
Mary Gauthier Songwriting Workshop
July 11-14, 2019
Thistle Farms Cafe | Nashville, TN
*TWO SPOTS LEFT*
I will be working with songwriters of all levels for a three-day songwriting intensive in July at Thistle Farms Cafe Education Space.
Do you have a story to tell?
Are you looking for the courage and motivation to tell your story?
If so, this workshop is for you. We have several folks who have joined us over the years who are not songwriters, but participated in the workshop to find new ways to understand storytelling. Everyone interested in story, be it their own or the story of others, is welcome!
This work is a journey into the mystery of what our songs can teach us.
"Art is a walk from the known towards the unknown. The noble goal of the art of song is to take risks, become emotionally honest, and create deep resonance with self and listeners.
I push myself and invite my students to break through fear-based ruts. I encourage piercing through the unknown to make it known - that students may discover and know the truth of their own unique voice.
My hope is to encourage each songwriter
to write the songs only he or she can write."
- Mary Gauthier
RIFLES & ROSARY BEADS
Nominated for Best Country/Americana Album
2019 Libera Awards
I am honored that Rifles & Rosary Beads was nominated for Best Country/Americana Album at this year's Libera Awards!
"The Libera Awards is the largest independent music award show in the world. It celebrates the successes of the independent music community,
from the artists that create the music to the labels that release and promote it."
- www.liberaawards.com
Congratulations to all of the nominees, and to John Prine for taking home the award in New York City last week!
BULLET HOLES IN THE SKY
"And they thank me for my service
and wave their little flags
They genuflect on Sundays
and yes, they'd send us back
But I believe in God and country
and in angels up on high
And in heaven shining down on us
through bullet holes in the sky..."
- "Bullet Holes In The Sky"
Mary Gauthier & Jamie Trent
NEW "MERCY NOW"
TEA TOWELS
Please visit my web store for these new "Mercy Now" Tea Towels! At just $12, these make great gifts! You can also find our "Mercy Now" T-Shirts and handwritten lyrics in our online store at the link below.
www.marygauthier.com/store
NEW MARY GAUTHIER
AUTOGRAPHED POSTER
Please visit my web store for these new autographed Mary Gauthier posters!
www.marygauthier.com/store.
UK & IRELAND TOUR
NOVEMBER 2019
UK Americana Music Association's International Artist of the Year 2019
Just announced! I am excited to return to the UK and Ireland this fall with Jaimee Harris and Michele Gazich. We will play seven dates, including the Fitzroy Church in Belfast, Whelan's in Dublin, London's Union Chapel, Pleasance Theatre in Edinburgh and more.
Find a full list of tour dates on my website at
www.marygauthier.com/tour
Michele Gazich & Mary Gauthier
July 11th: Nashville, TN
Performing Songwriter Workshop:
Finding Your Writer's Voice
August 8th: Calgary, AB
Bella Concert Hall
August 10th: Edmonton, AB
Edmonton Folk Music Festival
August 27th: Albuquerque, NM
Outpost Performance Space
August 29th: Taos, NM
Casa de Musica Songwriter Workshop
with Eliza Gilkyson
September 15th: Freehold, NJ
Concerts In The Studio
September 21st: Columbus, OH
Ohio Lesbian Festival
September 27th: Fall River, MA*
Narrows Center for the Arts
September 28th: Norfolk, CT*
Infinity Hall & Music Bistro
*with Gretchen Peters & Friends
I am honored that Rifles & Rosary Beads was nominated for Best Country/Americana Album at this year's Libera Awards!
"The Libera Awards is the largest Independent music award show in the world. It celebrates the successes of the independent music community, from the artists that create the music
to the labels that release and promote it."
-www.liberaawards.com.
Congratulations to all of the nominees,
and to John Prine for taking home the award in New York City last night!
"If you travel in Nashville's singer-songwriter circles, or literary circles, or progressive activist circles, you've probably witnessed Mary Gauthier bring a room to tears. Born in New Orleans, Gauthier has lived in Music City since 2001 and made her mark on both the mainstream country and Americana worlds...
[Rifles & Rosary Beads'] 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 rebroadcasted my interview with Ann Powers on World Cafe over the Memorial Day Weekend.
Click HERE to hear the full interview:
https://www.npr.org/sections/world-cafe/2018/01/26/580773876/world-cafe-nashville-mary-gauthier
June News
Happy Summer! Brand New Autographed Mary Gauthier Posters are here in the web store.
We also now have Mercy Now Tea Towels available, featuring the Mercy Now lyrics. Makes a great gift!
"My father could use a little mercy now
The fruits of his labor
Fall and rot slowly on the ground
His work is almost over
Won't be long, he won't be around
I love my father,
And he could use some mercy now..."
MERCY NOW TEA TOWEL
These new Mercy Now Tea Towels have been very popular since we debuted them on my website just one week ago. Take home some of your favorite song lyrics with a personal touch.
For just $12, they also make great gifts!
"Mercy Now" | Mary Gauthier with Michele Gazich | Paste Studios | 2/7/18
New York City
MERCY NOW
"Every living thing could use a little mercy now
Only the hand of grace can end the race
Towards another mushroom cloud
There's people in power
Who'll do anything to keep their crown
I love life, and life itself could use some mercy now..."
Photo Credit: Paolo Brillo
L to R: Michele Gazich, Mary Gauthier, Jaimee Harris
SUMMER TOUR
I am out on the road for a run of shows in Texas this week with Jaimee Harris and Michele Gazich. We play our second SOLD OUT show at Cactus Cafe tonight, June 1st, in Austin and then head to the midwest for shows in St. Paul, Minnesota on June 5th and in Chicago on June 6th at The Old Town School of Folk Music.
Please see my full June schedule below and on my website atwww.marygauthier.com. We hope to see you at a show near you!
EDMONTON FOLK MUSIC FESTIVAL
ON SALE JUNE 1ST
What a lineup! I am honored to be a part of the 40th Annual Edmonton Folk Music Festival, taking place in Edmonton, Alberta August 8-11th, 2019.
Tickets for the festival go on sale today, June 1st.
June 1st: Austin, TX*
Cactus Cafe: SOLD OUT
June 5th: St. Paul, MN*
Vieux Carre
June 6th: Chicago, IL*
Old Town School of Folk Music
June 9th: Rockingham, VT*
Roots on the River: SOLD OUT
June 12th: Portsmouth, NH*
The Music Hall Loft
June 22nd: Sparta, NC
Muddy Creek Cafe: Backwoods Beat Festival
*with Jaimee Harris & Michele Gazich
May News
When Jaimee and I were in Tulsa for the Woody Guthrie Center 6th Anniversary Celebration last weekend, we had a chance to sing for the beautiful women of The Women In Recovery Center.
Oklahoma has the highest rate of female imprisonment per capita in the United States and turning this around takes commitment and vision. The Women In Recovery Center, an intensive outpatient alternative for eligible women facing long prison sentences for non-violent drug-related offenses, is making a huge difference in this state.
This amazing organization has been changing women's lives with their long-term, visionary work. We are grateful to the Kaiser Foundation for their funding for this amazing place, and to Diane Hughes for showing us around. I'm grateful to have had the opportunity to meet so many amazing women and hear their stories.
WITH AUTHOR JOE KLEIN
We had the great privilege of meeting author and journalist Joe Klein at The Woody Guthrie Center Anniversary Celebration. Joe wrote "Woody Guthrie: A Life," along with "Primary Colors: A Novel of Politics." Joe's "Woody Guthrie: A Life" is the only authorised biography on Woody ever written. If you haven't read it, pick up a copy and dig in, it's brilliant. And while you're at it, watch the movie made from his book Primary Colors. I re-watched it last night, and loved it even more all these years (and elections) later...
WOODY GUTHRIE CENTER
Woody Guthrie's work is the supreme example of the fact that songs can be conduits for compassion and empathy. He reminds us that songs are a roadmap into stranger's heart which upon inspection mirrors our own. Music and song can temporarily bring us to a place that does not yet exist here on earth; a place where we are safe and connected and of one heart. Woody was right: he was a teacher, not an entertainer. And what a great teacher, indeed.
If you haven't been to The Woody Guthrie Center in Tulsa, I encourage you to visit for a few days. The trip would be a weekend well spent.
L to R: Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), Mary Gauthier, Yolanda Adams, Neil Portnow (President/CEO of the Recording Academy), Nancy Pelosi (D-California), Kristin Chenoweth
GRAMMYS ON THE HILL
On April 9th I had the honor of joining fellow music makers in Washington, DC to fight for the rights of songwriters, producers, engineers and performers. I sat with senators and members of congress and talked about issues affecting the music business, lobbying for their support of music makers.
"GRAMMYS On The Hill was a night that brought Capitol Hill together to celebrate the wins and the contributions of the music community."
- GRAMMY Advocacy
Photo Credit: Broken Record/The Globe and Mail
L to R: Rick Rubin, Bruce Headlam, Malcolm Gladwell, Robbie Robertson
MALCOLM GLADWELL PODCAST
I was honored to be a recent guest on the second season of Malcolm's "Broken Record" podcast. Rick Rubin produced the final version, and it came out GREAT. Click the link below to listen to the interview.
"So the world-class theorist Malcolm Gladwell and the music producer extraordinaire Rick Rubin were chatting and having tea in Bob Dylan's old tour bus. The rusting thing sits marooned behind Rubin's Shangri-La studio in Malibu." - The Globe and Mail, 4/2/9
May 2nd: Nashville, TN*
The Bluebird Cafe: SOLD OUT
May 4th: Northfield, MN*
The Northfield Arts Guild Theater
May 7th: Spring Green, WI*
Shi*tty Barn Sessions
May 9th: East Lansing, MI*
Pump House Concerts
May 10th: Ann Arbor, MI*
Green Wood Coffee House
May 17th: Boston, MA**
City Winery
May 18th: Newburyport, MA**
Belleville Roots Series
May 19th: Bath, ME**
Chocolate Church Arts Center
May 25th: Greenville, TX
Texan Theatre
May 26th: Kerrville, TX**
Kerrville Folk Festival
May 30th: Houston, TX*
McGonigel's Mucky Duck
7PM: SOLD OUT/ 9:30PM Available
May 31st: Austin, TX*
Cactus Cafe
*with Jaimee Harris
** with Three Women & The Truth
April News
Happy Spring! Although we are still on the road with Rifles & Rosary Beads this year, April finds me with more creative time at home, and more opportunities for collaboration and co-writing.
I have been writing quite a few songs with Sam Williams lately. You might know Sam as the son of Hank Williams, Jr. and the grandson of Hank Williams, Sr. He was recently featured at Tin Pan South Songwriters Festival in Nashville, and I believe this young man has a bright career ahead. I love writing with him. His voice lights up my writing room!
4/27: WOODY GUTHRIE CENTER 6TH ANNIVERSARY SHOW
We are honored to help celebrate the 6th Anniversary of The Woody Guthrie Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma on Saturday, April 27th at 2:30PM.
This free show on Guthrie Green will also feature performances by HuDost, Jaimee Harris, Guy Davis and Ramy Essam. Please join us if you can!
NEW YORK CITY
Here we are, hanging with the master of the Telecaster! Jaimee and I had the great privilege of playing with G.E. Smith at The City Winery in New York City on March 22nd. We shared the stage for Wesley Stace's Cabinet of Wonders Show, and helped celebrate their 10-year Anniversary.
NYC, we love you!
MALCOLM GLADWELL PODCAST
I loved being a guest on Malcolm Gladwell's "Broken Record" podcast, produced by Rick Rubin, and released on March 26th. We talked about Rifles & Rosary Beads, and the journey of songwriting with Veterans.
"In his years as a journalist, Malcolm Gladwell has a reputation for his ability to draw disparate information into a single point." - Vanity Fair, 3/14/19
"War After The War" - Named Best Song of 2018 by Malcolm Gladwell, NPR
April 5th: Nashville, TN
The Grand Ole Opry
April 13th: Tampa, FL*
The Attic at Rock Brothers
April 14th: Silverhill, AL*
Frog Pond at Blue Moon Farm
April 25th: Columbia, MO*
Eastlake Concert Series: SOLD OUT
April 27th: Tulsa, OK*
Woody Guthrie Center
April 28th: Kansas City, MO*
Knuckleheads Saloon
*with Jaimee Harris
Purchase Rifles & Rosary Beads on CD or Vinyl
"You'll be hard-pressed to hear a more powerfully moving work than
Rifles & Rosary Beads - this year, or any other."
-LA TIMES
Rifles & Rosary Beads Wins Album of the Year at Folk Alliance International
March News
On February 13th, Rifles & Rosary Beads was named Album of the Year at the International Folk Music Awards in Montreal, Canada! Folk Alliance has been important to me since I picked up a guitar, and I am truly grateful for this honor!
I wish I could have been there to accept the award in person, but I was performing on the Cayamo "Journey Through Song" Cruise in Jamaica.
Thank you again to The Folk Alliance International, and thank you to all of you for the incredible international support of this record!
THE GRAMMYS 2019
Thank you so much for following along with us on our 10-Day Countdown to The GRAMMYS! Your heartfelt comments and feedback on our social media posts helped bring each song back to life as we looked back on this amazing year with Rifles & Rosary Beads.
I am sad that we didn't win the statue, but we sure looked good!
I am absolutely honored to be on this ride. Thank you to all of my veteran co-writers, the military spouse co-writers and SongwritingWith:Soldiers!
We took it to the finals!
JOHN PRINE & MARY GAUTHIER | 2019 GRAMMY AWARDS
"Some of those among the two dozen participants noted from the stage that they'd never met Prine but deeply admire his music; others have worked closely with him for many years, including acclaimed singer-songwriter Mary Gauthier, who told the audience when she stepped on stage to sing 'The Speed of the Sound of Loneliness': 'I have no idea where my career would be if it were not for John Prine.' From his seat on a bench several feet above and away from the stage, he called down 'We love you, Mary!'"
- LA TIMES
READ "John Prine Salute Opens A Window" - Randy Lewis, LA TIMES
March 1st: Calgary, AB*
Bella Concert Hall
March 2nd: St. Albert, AB*
The Arden Theatre
March 6th: Nashville, TN**
The Bluebird Cafe
March 23rd: New York, NY*
City Vineyard
"Voices On The Hudson"
March 24th: Washington, DC*
City Winery DC
*with Jaimee Harris
**In The Round
February News
Last night I was named International Artist of the Year at the Americana Music Association UK Awards in London! What an incredible honor. Thank you again for all of your support this year, and congratulations to all of the nominees!
Today we begin our 10-DAY Countdown to the GRAMMYs!
Over the next 10 days we will be sharing videos, interviews and highlights of each of the tracks of from Rifles & Rosary Beads, nominated for a GRAMMY Award in the Best Folk Album Category. Be sure to follow us on our social platforms to follow along with the countdown!
The 61st Annual GRAMMY Awards Ceremony will be held February 10th at The Staples Center in Los Angeles, CA.
"Soldiering On"
We begin our 10-Day GRAMMY Countdown with the video from the first track on the record. I wrote "Soldiering On" with veteran Jennifer Marino, a retired Marine and co-pilot of the first ever all-female crew to fly a US President.
"What saves you in the battle
Can kill you at home..."
Along with telling Jennifer's powerful story, one of our goals with this song was to raise awareness of the current epidemic of Veteran suicide, which is estimated to claim 7,400 lives each year. Thank you, Jennifer, for your service and for your courage in telling your story in order to help others.
We premiered the video with American Songwriter Magazine shortly before the album's release in January of 2018.
"One of the album's most affecting tracks is 'Soldiering On,' a powerful, guitar-driven song that explores, with unflinching honesty, the immense difficulties veterans often face when integrating back into post-combat life."
- American Songwriter
2019 NASHVILLE PERFORMING SONGWRITER CLASS
"FINDING YOUR WRITER'S VOICE"
Thank you to all of you who joined me in January for the
Performing Songwriter Creative Workshop in Nashville!
And thank you to our special guests:
Beth Nielsen Chapman, Roger Cook and Ruthie Foster
February 1st: London, UK*
Cadogan Hall
February 10th: Tampa, FL
CAYAMO CRUISE: SOLD OUT
March 1st: Calgary, AB**
Bella Concert Hall
March 2nd: St. Albert, AB**
The Arden Theater
March 23rd: New York, NY**
City Vineyard
"Voices On The Hudson"
March 24th: Washington, DC**
City Winery DC
*with Beth Nielsen Chapman
**with Jaimee Harris
Thank you to the UK Americana Association! What an incredible honor!
Nominated for Best Folk Album
GRAMMYs 2019
Nominated for Album of the Year
Americana Awards 2018
Nominated for International Artist of the Year
UK Americana Awards 2019
#1 Best Singer/Songwriter Album of 2018
LA TIMES
#1 Song of the Year: War After The War
NPR/Malcolm Gladwell
Nominated for Best Album of the Year
International Folk Music Awards
20. Mary Gauthier, Rifles & Rosary Beads
“It would have been easy for Gauthier’s latest album to glide by on the power and profundity of its premise alone: a collection of songs about the Iraq and Afghanistan wars co-written entirely with amateur veteran songwriters. But because she chose to center veteran voices so prominently, Gauthier’s album functions as a stark, crucial de-romanticization of warfare told through the eyes of storytellers whose voices are so seldom given a platform: the female army mechanic more frightened by her male comrades than her supposed enemies in “Iraq;” the Marine wives who subsist on their own camaraderie in “Stronger Together;” the veteran distrustful of the shallow rituals of supporting the troops on “Bullet Holes In The Sky.” Rifles is not only one of the most vividly rendered singer-songwriter albums in recent years, it’s also one of the most vital pieces of art to arise from the never-ending, ongoing American military involvement in the Middle East. It’s also a reminder of the endlessly radical humanist potential that folk music can still hold.” — JONATHAN BERNSTEIN
Rifles & Rosary Beads Nominated for GRAMMY Award
in the Best Folk Album Category
This collaborative collection of songs came about because of the tireless efforts of Darden Smith, Mary Judd, and the entire team of SongwritingWith:Soldiers. They invited me into their visionary non-profit work, and changed my life. They are my teachers, along with the brave Veterans and their families who were willing to go on record, literally, with their stories. It takes courage to be a soldier, and it takes courage to tell the truth about the effects of war on your life, your family and your soul.
I am but the midwife here, a witness to layers and layers of bravery. The producer of this record, Neilson Hubbard, brought the songs to life, hired an amazing band, and made it easy on me by bringing his studio to my house.
My publicists, Jim Flammia, Donica Elliot, and Michelle Steele All Eyes Media carried the story of these out into the world, and they kicked ass.
Michele Gazich convinced me this was a good idea to pursue and gave me the courage to take it on.
And my love, Jaimee Harris, makes every single day on earth better.
I am richly blessed, and deeply grateful.
Thank you to all who have supported this project!
And congrats to all the artists nominated along side us!
https://www.billboard.com/…/…/2019-grammy-nominees-full-list
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
Mary Gauthier and Michele Gazich
December News: Home For The Holidays
I looked through my 2018 calendar to try and remember where I've been this year, and it amazed me to see I've played 134 shows this year, and spent over 300 nights in hotel rooms. 13 Festivals. 6 Countries. 2 TED Talks. 5 week-long Songwriting Workshops. What a year, whew!
2018 has been the busiest traveling year of my life, and I have been in constant motion. I now know the TSA folks at the Nashville airport by name!
I had a short few days off the road for Thanksgiving, and I'm back out playing shows again with Michele Gazich on the West Coast. I’ll head south on the 10th, for benefit shows in North Carolina and Tennessee with Greg Brown and Malcolm Holcombe, for folks who could use a hand this Christmas season.
I am so grateful that Rifles & Rosary Beads was nominated for Record of the Year this September by the Americana Music Association in Nashville, and grateful to be nominated for the 2018 International Artist of the Year by the Americana Music Association in the UK.
2018 has been a whirlwind for me, and the wind is still blowing!
What do I remember most?
To be honest, right now my memory is a blur. That said, I do remember moments of kindness, moments of love, moments of genuine human connection. I remember the day that Kees, one of my long time Dutch promoters who’d had a deeply debilitating stroke this year that left him in a wheelchair told me over lunch that he’d just returned from seeing the leaves change in Montreal, and that he’d decided he was going to opt for assisted suicide this May. All in one sentence, a sentence that took my breath away. He told me not to worry, he is ready, and that he is not afraid. After the show, when I hugged him close and said goodbye, I remember meeting his eyes and knowing I will probably never see him again. I will not forget the feeling of deep love and connection to a man who’d brought music to his village for many years, who’d promoted multiple shows for me, whose love of music and songwriters was his true passion and introducing them to other people was his gift to the world.
I remember the day Paolo Caru’, the getting-on-in-years legendary publisher of Buscadero Magazine and owner of a beloved little record shop in Italy took us to lunch. Out of nowhere, he told us to order dessert without him. He needed to walk his wife of 40 years to the beauty shop across the Village to get her hair done. He left his credit card with the waiter, and left the cafe holding his dear wife’s hand. My heart exploded. Seasoned, enduring love, the kind that continues to deepen with time. Seeing this kind of love can make me cry. Paulo returned in time for a post tiramisu double espresso, and while the coffee and sugar took effect, we talked and talked. He walked us back to the shop, and we talked about the condition of the world today. There was a swastika and racist, anti-immigrant, hate-filled graffiti spray painted on the wall of a building we walked past. I asked about it, what it meant, and he said, “The darkness is expanding again, yes?" It is terrifying, but at least we have the music.” He paused, and with his deep, wise voice, said one more time, “Maria, we still have the music.” He looked me in the eye with a sad smile, grabbed my hand, squeezed it, and kissed me goodbye on my cheek. I hugged him close. I do not know if I will ever see him again either. But he is right, and I am like him - I believe it is the music that will see us through.
SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR VETERANS
This year I was blessed to be able to talk about the redemptive power of song WITHOUT having to talk about myself personally. The Veterans’ stories and songs have carried me through 2018, taking their stories to audiences around the world and pointing to the power of song to build empathy and understanding. The Veterans’ songs brought me a deeper purpose when I needed it most.
I know for certain that successful song writing is not about technical skill, it’s not about the tricks of the trade, following trends, or whom you know in the music business. Songwriting is about something so ineffable almost no one names it: it’s about courage and emotional truth. Emotional Truth is what allows us to access that strange and beautiful holy grail of human connection: Vulnerability. From there, we access the bigger mystery and become alchemists. A great song is magic. And songwriters, at times, are magicians. What a job, what a ride, what a life!
GIFTS FOR THE MERCY-MINDED
I have a few Holiday gift ideas for Mary Gauthier fans from my web store, including handwritten lyrics to any of my songs. I will return home to write them in time for you to give to a loved one for Christmas. I have Mercy Now T-Shirts, CD Bundles, and this year’s Rifles & Rosary Beads on CD and Vinyl. Plenty to choose from!
I hope all of you have a wonderful Holiday season! Thank you for your support along the way. It keeps me going. Onward!
Our episode of the Emmy-Award Winning Season VIII Bluegrass Underground is premiering now on PBS. Set your DVRs and check your local listings!
https://goo.gl/UntYva & http://www.bluegrassunderground.com/pbs
You can also watch the episode, streaming on PBS.org at
http://www.pbs.org/bluegrass-underground/season-8/.
Thanks again to everyone at Bluegrass Underground for hosting us!
I am honored to be Nominated for International Artist of the Year by The Americana Music Association UK! Thank you to the UK voters for including me in this amazing group of artists. London, here we come!
The fourth annual UK Americana Awards Show will take place at The Hackney Empire in East London on January 31st. Visit https://theamauk.org/ for more information.
"Music can provoke thoughts and heal wounds by building empathy and understanding through song. This is the highest calling of the art."
- Mary Gauthier
Hangin' & Sangin' Podcast
I had the recent privilege of sitting down with music journalist Kelly McCartney in Nashville and talking about my songwriting work with the veterans.
Our "Hangin' & Sangin'" Podcast is available now!
While I was at the British Airways counter in Nashville checking into my flight to Milan to begin my Europe tour, an elderly woman lost control of her suitcase on the escalator behind me. Her cane fell out of her hand, she fell forward, then tumbled three quarters of the way down the moving stairs. Someone below figured out how to hit the escalator’s stop button as she was falling, and when it stopped, a small group of people instinctively rushed up the stairs to help her as she laid in a bloody heap three quarters of the way down.
I saw the scene from two floors above. There was blood, a lot of blood.
A small group of people held the injured woman in their arms on the stopped escalator, applying pressure to the spots on her gashed head and body, trying to slow the bleeding. Someone else called an ambulance.
I did not watch for long, the group of strangers below were helping, and it felt wrong for me to stare at the awful scene. There was nothing I could do. As I turned away to make my way to my gate, tears came. I had a hard time controlling my emotions.
My girlfriend grabbed my hand, told me the woman would be taken to a hospital, and she'd be patched up. She was going to be all right. She would not be traveling for a while, but she would be all right. As my partner consoled me, I struggled to contain my tears. We walked slowly to our gate.
To watch a frail person fall down and get seriously hurt is heart breaking. This kind of raw human vulnerability and helplessness is devastating to witness. Then to see stranger’s immediately rushing in to help, and to have a partner whose hand immediately reached for mine, reminded me that while we live in a dark time of division and rage, we human beings are also programmed for empathy and loving kindness for each other. This brought me to the brink of weeping. Kindness and empathy are as vital to our survival as food and water.
The elderly woman who fell down the escalator was probably someone’s mother, someone’s grandmother. The kind strangers who rushed up the moving stairs to help her, acting on a primal impulse to love, were in some ways sitting in for the old woman’s children, grandchildren, husband. Her loved ones, who were not there to help her at her most fragile moment, needed surrogates. Strangers did the job of family, until family could be summoned. I am certain that her family is grateful for their help.
We are all vulnerable, fragile, visitors to this planet, hanging out for a short while in flesh and blood human bodies. We are all aging daily - as are our parents and our grandparents. Time moves us all closer and closer to frailty every single day.
In Holland, I was able to return to the the KRÖLLER-MÜLLER MUSEUM for the second time. The Kröller-Müller Museum boasts the second-largest Vincent van Gogh collection in the world: almost 90 paintings and over 180 drawings. The van Gogh Gallery displays varying selections of about 40 works by Vincent van Gogh. As I walked through the gallery and took in the masters work again, what struck me most this time was his ability to convey deep empathy in his paintings. He makes us feel what he feels. He does it with brush strokes, use of colour, and deep feeling. Generating empathy, to me, is the higher purpose of art. Vincent wrote to his brother Theo, "Real painters do not paint things as they are ...They paint them as they themselves feel them to be.” This, I believe, is what artists do.
We do need each other. Even now, (especially now), as hatred and division on our screens and in our politics try and convince us that it is not true.
I am going to hang on, hang in. Try to stay with love. I hope you will too.
Rifles & Rosary Beads Documentary Premiere
Hello y'all! We premiered Neilson Hubbard and Josh Britt's Rifles & Rosary Beads Short Documentary in the Westin ballroom during AmericanaFest, and the great LA Times Pop Music Writer Randy Lewis interviewed me in front of an audience after the movie ended.
The Rifles & Rosary Beads Short Documentary is now up on YouTube, so please have a look and share with your friends. I am so proud of how the documentary turned out. Please let me know what you think!
Rifles & Rosary Beads (a short documentary) is a twenty-minute film about the power and beauty of turning war trauma into art. The documentary tells the story of Mary Gauthier's experience of co-writing with Veterans and their families through the SongwritingWith:Soldiers program.
Each co-written song is a glimpse inside the heart and soul of a Veteran (or military spouse). The service member's words and stories bring listeners deep into the harrowing effects of war. Written honestly from a vulnerable place, the songs generate empathy and understanding, even if the viewer has no experience with combat and the effects of war on the human spirit.
The process of co-writing the songs is deeply therapeutic for both the Veteran and the songwriter, but it's not therapy. It's the making of art.
Mary Gauthier, Courtney Marie Andrews and Jaimee Harris at 2018 Americana Awards
October News
Well, we didn't win Record of the Year at the Americana Music Awards (congrats to Jason Isbell!) but we DID look great when we lost, and looking good feels good...always!
I wore leather pants, my old cowboy boots from Amsterdam, and a black shirt covered with rhinestones that sparkled under the stage lights. I walked the red carpet, and sang The War After The War on stage at The Ryman with my co-writer Beth Nielsen Chapman as Buddy Miller's brilliant hand-picked band played along.
Beth Nlelsen Chapman and Mary Gauthier performing at 2018 Americana Awards
I was thrilled to be given the opportunity to tell the story of SongwritingWith:Soldiers on a larger stage, and we connected the veterans' stories and songs with plenty of new people.
All of this is a blessing, and I am grateful!
Mary Gauthier and Candi Staton at 2018 Americana Awards
In other Americana news, I finally got to meet the great Candi Staton, pictured above. Ms. Staton cut Mercy Now years ago, and nailed it! I played songs on the radio with old friends, including John Hiatt, Rodney Crowell and Will Hoge at The Outlaw Country Americana's Most Wanted Round.
Also, Jaimee Harris sang background vocals with me all week at AmericanaFest, and we played ten showcases all around Nashville. Thanks to everyone who came out to support, and everyone who made this AmericanaFest one to remember!
We are heading out soon for October shows in Italy and Holland, and will be joined by Jaimee Harris and Michele Gazich. As always, thank you for being a part of our journey!