@mandyhaynes8002 interviews THE MIGHTY LOVEABLE @OfficialMaryGauthier

I’ve been a fan of Mary’s music for years and I was very excited to get my hands on her book. I reached out to her to see if she had time to share the story behind the stories and I couldn’t believe my luck. She was on a gig, she said, but she would be more than happy to talk when she got back to Nashville. A week later, just off a thirty day tour in Europe and the UK Mary was a little jet lagged but that didn’t stop her from finding time to talk with WELL READ.

Mary Gauthier’s list of achievements for her songwriting and performances are a mile long. She’s been racking them up since 1998 but here’s a few of her latest awards. In 2019 her album, Rifles & Rosary Beads, was nominated for a Grammy for Best Folk Album of the Year, was named Best Album of The Year at the International Folk Music Awards, was nominated for Album of the Year by The Americana Music Association, and Mary was named International Artist of the Year by The Americana Association UK. In 2018, Rifles & Rosary Beads was named #1 Best Singer/Songwriter Album of 2018 by LA Times and War After The War was named #1 Song of the Year by NPR/Malcolm Gladwell.

Mary’s songs have been recorded by dozens of artists, including Jimmy Buffett, Dolly Parton, Boy George, Blake Shelton, Tim McGraw, Bettye Lavette, Mike Farris, Kathy Mattea, Bobby Bare, Amy Helm and Candi Staton and have appeared extensively in Film and Television, most recently on HBO TV’s Yellowstone.

In 2021 Mary published Saved by a Song: The Art and Healing Power of Songwriting. Part memoir, part philosophy of art, and part nuts and bolts of songwriting, Saved by a Song is a discussion of the art and healing power of songs and songwriting. It hit the shelves with some great endorsements like these:

"Generous and big-hearted, Gauthier has stories to tell and worthwhile advice to share." ―Wally Lamb, author of I Know This Much Is True

“Think Anne Lamott meets Julia Cameron meets Patti Smith… Anyone who can still write from the heart about writing from the heart after being in the music business as long as Gauthier has is the real deal. Her book invites seasoned artists to deeper authenticity, new artists to deeper craft and all readers to deeper self-reflection." ―BookPage

“A thoughtful meditation by one of the finest practitioners around on what makes a song matter and the hard lessons she's learned...This is a treasure of a book as well as a love letter to songs and songwriters and the people who listen to them.” ―Booklist (Starred)