Summary: Mary Gauthier quit drugs and alcohol and discovered songwriting. She's attracted critics and fans with her empathic depictions of people on the margins of society.
I've had the pleasure of having Mary Gauthier play a fund-raiser of mine. She donated her time and performace, so I think highly of her and feel familiar with her story. Tracey Tannenbaum and the Musician's Life crew really captured Gauthier's essence in this 5 minute package. The key elements of her own personal story and how it connects with her music are delivered concisely (got to in 5 minutes!). One great question from Tracey to Mary. Paraphrasing - with your success and sobriety do you lose touch with the down-and-out characters your songs describe? Mary has a great answer offered to her by other greats who have managed to do the same: It's O.K. to be happy and somehow you don't lose touch.
Music stations would do well to consider running these segments to lead off special spotlight sets with these artists. It would give listeners a fabulous context from which to enjoy the music even more. Bravo!
Comments for A Musician's Life: Mary Gauthier
This piece belongs to the series "A Musician's Life"
Produced by Tracey Tanenbaum
Other pieces by WXPN
Rating Summary
1 comment
Paul Ingles
Posted on May 08, 2008 at 04:26 PM | Permalink
Review of A Musician's Life: Mary Gauthier
I've had the pleasure of having Mary Gauthier play a fund-raiser of mine. She donated her time and performace, so I think highly of her and feel familiar with her story. Tracey Tannenbaum and the Musician's Life crew really captured Gauthier's essence in this 5 minute package. The key elements of her own personal story and how it connects with her music are delivered concisely (got to in 5 minutes!). One great question from Tracey to Mary. Paraphrasing - with your success and sobriety do you lose touch with the down-and-out characters your songs describe? Mary has a great answer offered to her by other greats who have managed to do the same: It's O.K. to be happy and somehow you don't lose touch.
Music stations would do well to consider running these segments to lead off special spotlight sets with these artists. It would give listeners a fabulous context from which to enjoy the music even more. Bravo!