Mary Gauthier at CSPS

MARY GAUTHIER
with guest artist DIANA JONES
One of the most challenging artists to rise up from the underground in a long, long time, Mary Gauthier (it's pronounced go-SHAY) writes songs that tell hard truths with a desolate eloquence.
Gauthier's path has wound through devastation and despair. She beat back demons, learned from the streets, sank to the bottom of life, turned 18 behind bars, emerged from darkness and — just to completely confuse things — won notice as a respected restaurateur, all before writing her first song.
As a singer and songwriter she garnered major acclaim, starting with her first album. Her second, Drag Queens in Limousines, received rave reviews from MOJO, Q and Gavin Report. She received an Independent Music Award and was named Country Artist of the Year by GLAMA.
Her next release, Filth & Fire, was called by No Depression "the best singer songwriter album of the year" and named by The New York Times the top indie release of 2002, while CMJ lauded her "piercing honesty" and "powerful singing — her voice cracks more out of weariness than frailty."
The acclaim grew in 2005, as Gauthier released her stunning debut on the Lost Highway label, Mercy Now. The brilliantly dark, moving album was "discovered" repeatedly over the two years following its release, ending up on a score of best-of-the-year lists, including the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and No Depression.
The last couple of years have seen Gauthier, a New Orleans resident, dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Between Daylight and Dark, her new Lost Highway album, incorporates those experiences. Produced by Joe Henry, with guest appearances by Van Dyke Parks and Loudon Wainwright, the new album confirms anew Gauthier's remarkable talents as a writer and performer. It also finds her, once again, aiming her compass at the sky and searching for home.
It is, in fact, the longing for home that has motivated many of Gauthier's most indelible songs. It fills the new album with both hope and anguish, with faith as well as fear.
Opening | Diana Jones has been compared to Iris Dement and Gillian Welch, Emily Dickinson & Loretta Lynn.
Adopted as an infant and raised in New York, Diana left home at the age of 15 in search of her roots. Attracted early on to the music of Johnny Cash and Patsy Cline, it wasn't until she was reunited with her birth family and the music of the Eastern Tennessee hills some years later, that she discovered why that music had always moved her. After establishing a solid folk career in the fertile Austin music scene of the late 90’s, she has steadily gained new listeners and rave reviews. From the mournful lament of a dance hall girl, to the stomping melodic rant of a young woman's burial instructions, each of her original songs draws life from the rich cross currents of old timey, country blues and mountain music.
Thu Nov 8 | 8 pm
CSPS | 1103 Third St SE | Cedar Rapids
$18 advance | $21 day of show

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