Mary Gauthier: Mercy Now.

I won’t be going anywhere today. Sitting in the kitchen on a grey rainy Sunday morning I gaze out of the window at the gloomy sky. In the garden I can see the birds ripping the linings out of my hanging baskets to use as nesting material. They are quite welcome. It would be nice if a pair of them set up house in the bird box on my wall. That hasn’t happened for about three years now. Inside my kitchen window I’m pleased to see that some sunflowers are already poking their little heads up. I only potted the seeds a few days ago.

I am listening to Mary Gauthier. I had never heard anything by her until last week when I was listening to a folk sampler album and was quite taken with a song called Our Lady Of The Shooting Stars so I looked her up on Wikipedia. What a life she has led. Born in 1962 to a mother she never knew, she was placed in an orphanage and adopted. Mary ran away from home at 15 and spent her 18^th birthday in jail, struggled with drug and alcohol dependence until 1990 and never wrote a song till the age of 35. She opened a restaurant which she ran for eleven years until selling it to finance her recording career.

I thought I ought to buy an album, but I wasn’t sure which one was the best. In the end I opted for Mercy Now which was released in 2005 and I’m glad I did because I’m on my second listen on this rainy Sunday morning and I really like it. The opening track is Falling Out Of Love, It reminded me a little bit at first of Robbie Robertson’s Somewhere Down That Crazy River. She has a very southern kind of drawl in her voice which I like. I’m not very good at thinking of adjectives but the words Southern Gothic come to mind, or maybe not. The second track is the eponymous Mercy Now which is a very poignant heartfelt song and features the likes of a cello and pedal steel guitar. Wheel Inside The Wheel is more upbeat with banjo to the fore and is quite catchy. I Drink is very introspective. I thought of John Prine or Steve Earle during this song, Lucinda Williams sprang to mind on some tracks as well. I’m pleased to see that the late great Ian McLagan of Small Faces fame plays Hammond organ on some tracks on this album. Just Say She’s A Rhymer is a very nice song written by the late Harlan Howard. I really like the fiddle playing on this song. Prayer Without Words is driven along by the drums of Rick Richards. The viola of Eamon McLoughlin is also to the fore, as is Mac’s organ playing. Your Sister Cried has some fabulous doom-laden guitar playing by Gurf Morlix. After two listens I think this is my favourite song on the album. It is written by Fred Eaglesmith and is great. Empty Spaces features Patty Griffin on backing vocals and is a very sad study of desolation and loneliness. The cello of Brian Standerer adds to the pathos of this song. Drop In A Bucket is another sad story of lost love and the loneliness of life on the road. I think it must be quasi-autobiographical because I don’t think you can write songs like this if you haven’t experienced it yourself.  It Ain’t The Wind, It’s The Rain sums up the weather today. A great song to bring this album to a close.

I have really enjoyed listening to this album today. I think you would enjoy it as well. The wind is getting up now, I think there is going to be some heavy rain soon, I might go back to bed for the afternoon. See you later. If you would like to hear Mary sing Mercy Now live you can find it below.