MARY GAUTHIER

If there were no story to tell about this remarkable artist, if there were nothing but the music that haunts every track on Mercy Now – that alone would make the case for Mary Gauthier as one of the most challenging artists to rise up from the underground in a long, long time. These past few years, people have started catching on, from grad students clustered into Boston cafes to crowds cheering before the main stages at Newport, Telluride, the Strawberry Music Festival, and in venues beyond our shore. Jon Pareles of the New York Times picked her album Filth & Fire as the top indie release of 2002. Rolling Stone acclaimed her "American Gothic – tales delving into physical abuse, drug addiction, abject poverty, and homelessness." CMJ lauded her "piercing honesty" and "powerful singing – her voice cracks more out of weariness than frailty.”