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<\/a>I\u2019ve been lying in wait for Mary Gauthier to grace Houston\u2019s stages for a while now. I have missed a couple of opportunities, but on the first of June the stars aligned and I found myself at a table in The Duck to catch a performance by one of the most compelling songwriters of our time. Gauthier has a talent of getting to the gritty heart of a subject in her lyrics, no passing Go, no collecting $200. What I had not known about Mary, was the way in which she takes charge of a room and guides the listener\u2019s experience through the journey that she has planned.<\/p>\nMs. Gauthier immediately established common ground with the audience by stating \u201cIt\u2019s hot!\u201d which everyone could relate to, before introducing her first song, \u201cI Drink\u201d. She solicited requests starting at the second number and quickly formed her set list going forward, choosing \u201cHow You Learn to Live Alone\u201d to start. She followed with \u201cBetween Daylight and Dark\u201d which she wrote with Fred Eaglesmith and she introduced the song with a detailed recounting of Eaglesmith\u2019s writing method. Every song had a story, like \u201cLast of the Hobo Kings\u201d and the tale of the gathering of hobos, before railyards were fenced in with razor wire and box cars were locked.<\/p>\n
Starting with the fifth number Mary introduced her latest CD which came from the SongwritingWith:Soldiers organization, led by Darden Smith with contributions from Mary Gauthier, Amy Speace, Radney Foster, Greg Trooper, Marshall Crenshaw, Bonnie Bishop, Will Kimbrough and a host of other songwriters. These artists donated their time to work with soldiers that were trying to fit back into their lives stateside after the trauma of the battlefields. The concept is to put their feelings into words, words into lyrics and lyrics to music in a therapeutic effort to express what they have so long suppressed. Mary collected eleven of the songs that she had collaborated on and has put it out as \u201cRifles and Rosary Beads\u201d.<\/p>\n
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<\/a>The fifth song was the title track to that record, followed by \u201cBullet Holes in the Sky\u201d, \u201cStill on the Ride\u201d and \u201cStronger Together\u201d which was written in collaboration with the spouses of service men and women, also suffering from trauma while supporting their military husbands and wives.<\/p>\n![\"DSC04256\"](\"http:\/\/houstonmusicreview.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/DSC04256-300x200.jpg\")
<\/a>Jaimee remained on stage singing back up as Mary closed the show with \u201cAnother Train\u201d and \u201cMercy Now\u201d. Being the early show in McGonigel\u2019s two show weekend schedule, there was no time to wrangle an encore from the fine lady performers. Just the same, Ms. Gauthier seemed able to squeeze a whole lot of entertainment and information into a short time. So much talent oozed from that show that I had my batteries charged for the next couple of days.<\/p>\n