Our new playlist of the best new Americana we’ve heard over the last month is out later today exclusively for AUK supporters which includes new tracks by Our Man in the Field, Desolation Horse, Dori Freeman and Alessandra Rose among others – basically we trawl through the best Americana we’ve heard recently so you don’t have to – and if you’re one of our supporters, this month you can win tickets to see Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter and accomplished author Mary Gauthier who has announced a series of UK and Ireland dates for April and May 2024. In these unique, career retrospective shows, Gauthier will perform a selection of audience favourites from all eleven of her studio records, accompanied by her partner, Jaimee Harris, who will also open the shows.
Like the troubadours of old, Mary will sing her songs under the spotlight, telling stories of her thirty years of performing her own music around the world, an experience that has helped her understand and personally experience, as she describes it, “the redemptive power of songs and songwriting.” From a crib at St. Vincent’s Women and Infants Asylum in New Orleans to being walked onto the Grand Ole Opry stage by Marty Stuart. From spending opening night of her restaurant drunk in a Dorchester, MA. jail cell to hearing her song ‘I Drink’ on Bob Dylan’s “Theme Time Radio Show.” From serving Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings oyster po-boys at her Cajun restaurant in Boston to sharing a booking agent and festival stages with the incredible duo. From spending her 18th birthday sitting in a Salina, KS jail cell to standing next to John Prine at the GRAMMYs. – Gauthier has basically lived a very full life.
Her latest album ‘Dark Enough To See The Stars’ was released to glowing reviews in 2022, including our own review which covered it in glowing terms: “If you suspect that you’re affected by human emotion then you may well want to take a listen to this album.” In her own words: “I’m a troubadour. Troubadouring is an approach, not necessarily a genre. Inside the word “troubadour,” I hear the word “true.” Troubadours tell true stories, true to feeling, not fact. People need stories to make meaning out of their lives and songs are how most people get their stories these days. Modern-day troubadours are self-perceived outsiders who write songs about underdogs, unnoticed or marginalized folks, and struggles not often heard in mainstream music. In an age of misinformation, disinformation, and lies, we are the wandering minstrels who compose and perform songs to tell truths. And like the stories of old, songs help teach us ow to live, and why. I’ve played in dozens of countries and listened to thousands of people’s stories, heard late-night confessions and held strangers in my arms as they wept. No matter a person’s nationality, age, race, religion, or lack of religion, human emotion is the same everywhere I go.”
Tickets to all shows are available now via this link, and you can become an AUK supporter from just £2 a month – head here for details.
Mary Gauthier Career Retrospective Show 2024, with Special Guest Jaimee Harris:
10 April 2024 – Belfast, The Mac
11 April 2024 – Dún Laoghaire, Pavilion Theatre
12 April 2024 – Cork, Cyprus Avenue
13 April 2024 – Naul, Séamus Ennis Centre
14 April 2024 – Sligo, Hawk’s Well Theatre
16 April 2024 – Headford, Campbell’s Tavern
18 April 2024 – Milton Keynes, The Stables
19 April 2024 – Gosforth, Gosforth Civic Theatre
20 April 2024 – Beverley, St. Nicholas’ Church
21 April 2024 – Nottingham, Metronome
23 April 2024 – Liverpool, Philharmonic Music Room
24 April 2024 – Biddulph, St. Lawrence’s Church
25 April 2024 – Glasgow, St. Luke’s
26 April 2024 – Hebden Bridge, Trades Club – sold out
27 April 2024 – Hebden Bridge, Trades Club
28 April 2024 – Birmingham, Kitchen Garden Cafe
3 May 2024 – London, Kings Palace
