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Event
Lori McKenna and Mary Gauthier
Lori McKenna is a mother of five from Stoughton, Mass. (pop. 27,000), about 20 miles outside Boston. There she lives quietly - well, as quietly as a house with five children can get - with her husband of 22 years, Gene, a plumber for the local gas company. She is also an acclaimed singer-songwriter who was thrust into the limelight when superstar Faith Hill included three of McKenna's songs on the Fireflies album.
Prior to her 2007 Warner Bros. album Unglamorous, she independently released Paper Wings & Halo (1998), Pieces of Me (2001), The Kitchen Tapes (2003), and Bittertown (2004). She's quick to point out that her songs' tangibly intimate scenarios are not necessarily a journal of her own home life. Rather, they're the collision point of autobiography, keen observation, and a vivid imagination. "That's how my brain works," she says. "I can take a little piece of something that I heard somewhere and turn it into a song written in the first person."
McKenna's unique talent for getting such honest emotion on paper may be the result of her unique career path. "I started writing songs when I was about 13, but I never imagined I would actually leave my house with them," she recalls. "They were always written for me." McKenna learned to compose without self-consciousness, to leave in all the painful details that most writers would edit out before facing an audience. Why not? No one would hear the songs anyway.
And that's how things remained-until McKenna reached age 27, at which point she had already married and had three children. "My kids put everything in line for me," she says. "They, and my husband, gave me the courage to play in front of people. If the audience hated my songs, it wasn't gonna make or break me, because I had so much here at home. If it didn't work, I could at least share that lesson with my kids: 'I can't be regretful, because at least I tried to pursue this.'" Certainly, the young mom didn't envision the string of events that led to her status as an in-demand songwriter.
After the initial exposure from the Hill recordings and after appearing with the superstar on The Oprah Winfrey Show, the music community clamored to record her songs. Tim McGraw, Carrie Underwood, LeAnn Rimes, Alison Krauss and Keith Urban are just a few to record McKenna's heartfelt songs. Obviously, her unique perspective continues to connect with artists.
McKenna is in the studio finishing her sixth album Lorraine. "I want to write great songs, timeless songs, songs that affect people," she says. "But if I have the blessing to be able to share the way I interpret my songs with people, then I want to do that, too." The new album is scheduled for release early next year. Currently signed with Universal Music Publishing Group in Nashville, she spends most days hard at work behind the doors of her Hoodie Studios, creating her next piece of musical poetry.
Acclaim has followed Mary Gauthier every step of the way after picking up a guitar at age 35 and making her way to open mic nights on Boston's busy coffeehouse circuit in 1995.
Since 1997 Mary has released six albums and was published in a collection of short stories titled Amplified. She released her debut album, titled Dixie Kitchen in 1998, named after a restaurant she owned. To her surprise, she was nominated for Best New Contemporary Folk Artist at the Boston Music Awards.
Her second release Drag Queens in Limousines (1999, with her signature "I Drink") drew a four-star rating in Rolling Stone and broke Mary's career wide open, as she became a presence at folk festivals across the U.S. and Europe. The title tune won Best Folk/Singer-Songwriter Song at the first annual Independent Music Awards; the album earned the Crossroads Silver Star Award; and Mary was named Best Country Music Artist at the GLAMA's (Gay and Lesbian American Music Awards).
With her third CD, Filth & Fire (2002), Mary began an association with Gurf Morlix, former sideman and producer for Lucinda Williams. Filth & Fire was named Best Indy CD Of The Year by Jon Pareles of the New York Times, the Best Singer/Songwriter Album Of The Year by No Depression, and Freeform American Roots poll critics chose Mary as their Female Artist Of The Year.
With the release of her next album, Mercy Now (2005), again produced by Morlix, Mary graduated to major label status as she joined the prestigious Lost Highway label. Around the same time, Mary officially moved to Nashville. Mercy Now appeared on a score of year-end "Best Of" lists, including the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Billboard, and No Depression. Mary was named New/Emerging Artist Of The Year at the annual Americana Music Association Awards, and Bob Dylan included "I Drink" on his "Theme Time Radio Hour" program.
For her next album, Between Daylight and Dark (2007), Mary was teamed with master producer Joe Henry. "If she keeps this up, one day she may assume the mantle of Johnny Cash," raved the New York Daily News; while the Boston Globe praised Mary's "particular blend of toughness and vulnerability that puts her writing in a league with Bruce Springsteen and Steve Earle."
Her newest album, The Foundling, was named the #3 record of the Year by the LA Times writer Randy Lewis. Written and recorded over the course of two years, The Foundling was produced in Toronto by Michael Timmins of Cowboy Junkies, using local musicians and his sister Margo Timmins on vocal harmonies. The Foundling is Mary's first concept album, ands she opens the door on the defining circumstance of her life, the emotional journey and aftermath of finding the mother who surrendered her in New Orleans after her birth in March 1962.
"Gauthier's new CD, "The Foundling" is the product of two years work, and is quite simply the best collection of songs she's ever recorded. With 'The Foundling', Mary Gauthier has created her first masterpiece. Not for the easily frightened, it is the most raw, brave and ultimately satisfying album I've heard in a very long time. Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. " No Depression Magazine
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LocationCSA Events Center (View)
1275 Starboard Dr.
West Sacramento, CA 95691
United States
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