Mary Gauthier

Mary Gauthier (2006)

Chart positions Explanation of the data

Albums

Rifles & Rosary Beads   CH 100 04/02/2018 (1 week)

Mary Gauthier ( ɡoʊʃeɪ , pronounced Gou Schey * 11. March 1962 in New Orleans , Louisiana ) is an American country - and folk - songwriter .

biography

From her mother she never knew, after giving birth to adoption released, Mary Gauthier grew up with adoptive parents in Thibodaux ( Louisiana on).

She began her musical career at the age of 34. She spent her early youth mainly as a runaway "on the road". She dropped out of high school at the age of 15 and ran away in her parents' car. According to later statements, the reason was the search for people to whom she could feel a part. Attempts by her parents to bring her back didn't work: Gauthier stole another car at the next opportunity and ran away again. The later songwriter lived the following years mainly with friends, in cheap accommodations or on the street. There were also problems with drugs and alcohol : she spent her sixteenth birthday in a rehab clinic, her eighteenth in a prison cell.

Step by step, the artist managed to distance himself from this ultimately self-destructive way of life. First she began studying philosophy at Louisiana State University . However, she later switched to the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts to learn to cook. In her new place of residence, Boston, she then opened the "Dixie Kitchen" restaurant, which ran very successfully and was awarded several prizes. The separation from alcohol turned out to be more difficult: In interviews, the singer admitted that she had a bad alcohol problem between the ages of 12 and 28 , but has been dry since 1990.

Reflections on her own experiences and observations led in the following years to an increasing occupation with the writing of songs. In 1997 Mary Gauthier finally dared to switch to a professional musician career. She sold her restaurant "Dixie Kitchen" and recorded her first CD, which bore the title of her former restaurant. Musically, the debut demonstrated a strong attachment to the country music of the American South . The US edition of the music magazine Rolling Stone was enthusiastic, gave Gauthier's debut the highest rating, called her music "country noir" and enthusiastically compared it with country songwriters such as Townes Van Zandt , Steve Earle and Lucinda Williams .

The country influence gave way to folk and songwriter influences on the following two CDs "Drag Queens in Limousines" (1999) and "Filth and Fire" (2002) . The second CD did not bring the big breakthrough; however, Gauthier was a welcome guest at various folk festivals in the USA. At live concerts, the singer prefers the typical appearance as a folksinger with guitar and harmonica . For CD recordings, however, typical country instruments such as the violin and mandolin are also used . The calm and warm use of a Hammond organ is less typical of the country and has a strong influence on the sound of their debut CD "Filth & Fire".

The CD "The Foundling" is an autobiographical song cycle.

Mary Gauthier now lives in Nashville , Tennessee . As for her popularity, she claims to sell more records in Europe than in the United States. Especially in Holland , where she has already performed at the Blue Highways Festival in Utrecht , the songwriter from the American south has a steady customer base for her CDs.

Texts, style and reviews

Although her smoky voice has become one of her trademarks, Mary Gauthier's songs and music are primarily shaped by her lyrics. These deal primarily with the outsiders she met in her youth, as well as with current social problem topics. She dedicated one of her first songs to a striptease dancer in New Orleans , with whom she fell in love. Homosexual topics and the problem of surviving as a self- confessed lesbian in a heterosexual- oriented, still strongly male-dominated music business also shape her songs. Her debut "Dixie Kitchen" contains two pieces, "Goddam HIV" and "Skeleton Town", in which she describes the fate of two AIDS sufferers. In the song "Karla Faye" the songwriter takes a critical look at the death penalty . She sees herself more as a classic songwriter than a typical folk or country singer: "I use my songs the way writers use their novels or short stories : to tell stories and try to make something special."

The singer also articulates herself on personal and social issues outside of her lyrics. She expressed displeasure with the shabby accommodations and dirty backstage rooms - conditions that are often part of everyday life, especially for lesser-known live acts. In an interview published in 2002 by the online magazine lespress.de , she was critical of the situation of gays and lesbians under the Bush administration : "If nobody hid, it would of course be easier for everyone. But in America the pressure is very high - People are losing their jobs, their homes, their children are being taken away. We just don't have any rights yet. And under this government we won't get any. That's just how many hide. There are gay country singers in Nashville, too, but nobody would want to confess. "

Mary Gauthier's songwriting did not go unnoticed in the music press either. Der Folker, for example, introduced the musician in its online edition 1/2003 with the subheading "Songs about queens in limousines, nuns in jeans and philosophizing drinkers". "Nashville Scene" stated the singer's exceptional street creditibility: "Her songs and her life are of one piece - like Billy Joe Shaver or Steve Earle". The online magazine Westzeit finally summed up: "For everyone who loves good songwriting with a social component, Mary Gauthier is the voice to which they should pay attention in the future."

Discography

• Dixie Kitchen (1997; Germany: 2002; Munich Records / Indigo )
• Drag Queens in Limousines (1999; Germany: 2001; Munich Records / Indigo)
• Filth and Fire (2002; Munich Records / Indigo)
• Mercy Now (2005; Collection Lab / Universal )
• Between Daylight and Dark (2007)
• Genesis (The Early Years) (2008)
• The Foundling (2010)
• The Foundling Alone (2011) (Acoustic Demos of songs from The Foundling)
• Live at Blue Rock (2013)
• Trouble & Love (2014)
• Rifles & Rosary Beads (2018)

Awards

• 1998: Nomination for the Boston Music Award in the category Best New Contemporary Folk Act

swell

1. ^ Mary Gauthier in the Swiss hit parade

Web links

• Official website of the singer
• Interview with Mary Gauthier in the online magazine lespress.de