Mary Gauthier
Mary Gauthier has been described as a late blooming, autobiographical, singer songwriter, it's pretty spot on.
My problem is that when I first heard Mary's music my original thought when I heard her album "Mercy Now" was Lucinda Williams. This feeling was not helped when I noticed the producer was Gurf Morlix.
Like a number of people that have run restaurants, Mary has had her problems with drink. She wrote a few songs about the later and named her album after the cookhouse, Dixie Kitchen.
Once I'd got over the sound similarities, I managed to focus on the songs. Mary draws on her experience and deep enough to make you feel like a voyeur at times. She does have a habit of occasionally over complicating a line, but this is then usually followed by a line of sweet simplicity.
There's a lot of very good singer songwriters here this year. A number drawing on those Southern experiences, Mary is from Louisianna, and I fear she might get lost in the crush.
POST FESTIVAL VERDICT
Well how wrong can you be about an artist. The more I listen to "Mercy Now", the more distinctive it sounds. Mary more than proved that she is capable of delivering fantastic live performances as she held the audience spellbound on two stages on two successive days. I missed the first one for which my rather bruised shin is now due another kicking. Mary Gautheir has that certain something, that will set her apart from the crush.