Mary Gauthier - The Foundling

Mary Gauthier has a new album The Foundling. I don't normally recommend albums this dark. It is painful to listen to at times. However, being orphaned and spending years looking for your birth mother is also painful.

This autobiographical project comes from the heart. I also hope it was a healing process for Gauthier. This is not music you will hear at a Tony Robbins seminar. It is just a real story about real hurt that goes on everyday all over the country. Maybe this can help us not to insulate ourselves. Maybe that is part of us that Gauthier wants to reach.

mysppace

Best of 2007

This is My updated Best of 2007. Wilco is still #1. The debuts are Lyle Lovett at #5, Oakley Hall at #16, Josh Ritter at #20, Iron & Wine at #30, Mary Gauthier at #33, Bettye Lavette at #38, Slider Pines at #40, Alberta Cross at #41 and finally Steve Earle at #45. Also, as usual, I did some rearranging based on further reflection.

Since I vowed last month to stop at 50, some albums had to come off. My apologies to the following artists, Hoots & Hellmouth, Eillen Jewell, Pieta Brown, 2 Cow Garage, Willy Mason, Pela, Brandi Carlisle, Martin Sexton, Okkervil River and The Derailers. For a year in which you hear so much negative press about the music industry, 2007 is a banner year. The major labels may have committed Pop suicide but the indie world is as or even more prolific as ever. Enjoy the list and feel free to tell me how you agree or disagree. Also, make no hesitation to trash me or my intelligence in any way you see fit. I'm used to it.

1) Wilco - "Sky Blue Sky"
2) Patty Griffin - "Children Running Through"
3) White Stripes - "Icky Thump"
4) Kelly Willis - "Translated From Love"
5) Lyle Lovett - "It's Not Big It's Large"
6) Wrinkle Neck Mules - "Wicks Have Met"
7) Jason Isbell - "Sirens of the Ditch"
8) Assembly of Dust - "Recollection"
9) Kane, Welch, Kaplin - Kane Welch Kaplin
10) Hackensaw Boys - "Look Out"
11) The Shins - "Wincing the Night Away"
12) Ryan Adams - "Easy Tiger"
13) John Doe - "A year in the Wilderness"
14) Son Volt - "The Search"
15) Peter Case - "Let Us Now Praise Sleepy John"
16) Oakley Hall - "I'll Follow You"
17) The Broken West - "I Can't Go on I'll Go on"
18) Elliot Randall - "Take the Fall"
19) The Basement - "Illicit Hugs and Playground Thugs"
20) Josh Ritter - "The Historical Conquests of"
21) Paul McCartney - " Memory Almost Full"
22) Sarah Borges and the Broken Singles - "Diamonds in the Dark"
23) Kim Richey - "Chinese Boxes"
24) Joe Henry - "Civilians"
25) King Wilkie - "Low Country Suite"
26) Modest Mouse - "We Were Dead Before he Ship Ever Sank"
27) Giant Bear - "Giant Bear"
28) Josh Rouse - "Country Mouse, City house"
29) Feist - "The Reminder"
30) Iron & Wine - "The Shepherds Dog"
31) Olav Larsen and the Alabama Rodeo Stars - "Loves' Com to Town"
32) Elizabeth Cook - "Balls"
33) Mary Gauthier - Between Daylight and Dark"
34) Grace Potter and the Nocturnals - "This is Somewhere"
35) Dale Watson - "From the Cradle to the Grave"
36) Spoon - "Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga"
37) The Gourds - "Noble Creatures"
38) Bettye Lavette - "The Scene o the Crime"
39) The National - "Boxer"
40) Slider Pines - "Road, Avenue, Railroad"
41) Alberta Cross - "The Thief and the Heartbreaker"
42) Charlie Louvin - "Charlie Louvin"
43) Infamous Stringdusters - "Fork in the Road"
44) Nathan - "Key Principles"
45) Adam Hood - "Different Groove"
46) Steep Canyon Rangers - "Lovin' Pretty Women"
47) Rocky Votolato - "The Brag and Cuss"
48) Steve Earle - "Washington Square Serenade"
49) Joe Ely - "Happy Song from Rattlesnake Gulch"
50) Cadillac Sky - "Blind Man Walking"

Mary Gauthier - Between Daylight and Dark

When you think of the great storyteller songwriters certain names come to mind. Names like, Guy Clark, Joe Ely, Robert Earl Keen, Townes Van Zandt, Kris Kristofferson, Jerry Jeff Walker and Chris Knight just to name a few. These people have one thing in common. They are all men. I have news for these gentlemen. The doors to the "old boys club" have been busted down and Mary Gauthier has just ordered a round for the house.

The best story songs, though often tragic, can be redemptive and healing to the listeners as they get lost in the narrative of the song. While the listeners may not directly relate to the extremity of the situations in which the characters on Between Daylight and Dark exist, they can still find plenty of common ground among less extreme but common circumstances in their own life. Sadness and tough circumstances come into contact with everyone at some point. Some people have more than their fair share of heartache.

The brokenness that scatters the landscape of this album is offset by characters who maintain some form dignity in their circumstances. Out of their sadness hope begins to grow. For example, "Last of the Hobo Kings" sings of the life of a man who was part of the train hopping sub-culture that no longer exists. Gauthier seems to suggest that the end of the Hobo era points to a greater loss of spirit and adventure in our country. She points to the wisdom that the hobo gained in his travels by saying he "knew how his nation was doing by the size of a sidewalk cigarette butt." "Thanksgiving" follows a grandmother taking her grandchild to see her father in prison on Thanksgiving. Growth is seen in "I Ain't Leavin." In this song the main character decides to stay and fight for a relationship when previously she would run away. "Broken on the inside is what I used to say. Then I'd pack my bags raise a white flag and drive away. I thought that's what made me strong, but I was young and I was wrong."

Every song on this Lost Highway release has similar impact. She wrote or co-wrote all the songs on the album. My favorite collaboration on the album is "Snakebit," which she co-wrote with Hayes Carll. Joe Henry produced the album and kept things simple and understated in a way that lets Gauthier shine in a way that makes this the best release of her career.

Listen to the Full Album Stream

This review also appears on: Twangville

Highlights of Upcoming Releases

Sept. 11th :

Joe Henry - Civilians

Supposedly more stripped down than his previous efforts this album I am hearing is an instant classic. Scott Register of Reg's Coffeehouse and the Coalitoin of Indepndent Music Stores says it is incredible and played great song off of it this morning on his show.

http://www.joehenrylovesyoumadly.com/listen.php

Oakley Hall - I Will Follow You

One of my favorite releases back in early 2006 was their album Second Guessing. This is their debut on Merge Records. It was produced by Peter Katis (The National, Interpol). Stream it on the Merge records site.

http://www.mergerecords.com/index.php

Sept. 18th
Mary Gauthier - Between Daylight and Dark

Gauthier just keeps getting better I am sure this one will not disappoint.

Jim Lauderdale - Bluegrass Diaries

Supposedly Lauderdale is going to release 3 albums in the next year. This is the first of the three. It was debuted on XM14 Bluegrass Junction to rave reviews. 2008 already looks like a good year.

Stream blue Mule Below:

http://www.yeproc.com/upload/media/view_media.php?id=499