What does it sound like?:
Dark Enough To See The Stars ( from a Martin Luther King speech) is Mary Gauthier’s ninth album with a 4 year gap since her last one Rifles and Rosary Beads.
Of course since then we have had the great plague and isolation and for Mary ,the loss of close ones. So plenty of fodder for the minstrel of misery. Remember the Foundling – documenting her search for her birth mother, finding her and being rejected. Sheesh – that was tough. And the penultimate one -giving voice to damaged war vets.
Nobody does it better, and respect to Mary, but you put each release on wondering what gruelling tales are about to confront you.
This one was a bit different. For the old blues/soul singers like Bobby Bland and Etta James they used to talk about “sweetening up” the song with strings. Mary sounds sweetened up on this – rich guitar solos, piano upfront, backing vocals and yes strings. Her voice is fuller and richer. I commented on this in relation to her last album so it is obviously an ongoing process for her. With every album she is a better singer.
There’s a lot of Dylan on this I reckon – Blonde On Blonde era comes to mind.I found myself inserting Dylan lyrics while listening “sheet metal memories for instance Swirling organ and lines like “I think about your candlestick fingers on my skin” – well waddya gonna think? Interestingly, as I was musing on this, Mrs Wells commented about one song, Til I see You Again “that sounds like Forever Young”. So it is not just me.
A single has been released – Amsterdam. Curiously perhaps some of her tritest lyrics ever. But I guess it is good that she can unburden herself from the need for everything to be so earnest and heavy.
Recorded in Nashville by Neilson Hubbard (drums/mellotron), the musicianare – Michael Rinne (bass), Danny Mitchell (keyboards/vocals), Jaimee Harris (guitar/acoustic guitar/vocal), Juan Solorzano (electric guitar/high-strung guitar & baritone guitar), Allison Moorer (vocals), Michele Gazich (violin/viola), Ben Glover (vocals) & Fats Kaplin (pedal steel/viola)
What does it all *mean*?
Mary wont lose any fans with this one and she might get a few more.
Goes well with…
Reflection, rejection, introspection
Release Date:
June 2022
Might suit people who like…
Reflection, rejection, introspection
Superb review. My finger is hovering over ‘buy’.
Thanks Tigg.
Don’t delay with the finger Tiggs. It is a great album and her voice in places now sounds very close to Lucinda’s.
And ‘Til I see you again’ is heartbreaking.
Yeah. Lucinda. Thought that tonight.
Nope, like Lucinda’s used to sound, in her prime of a decade or two back.
True, but still Lucinda.
Thank _ _ _ _ _ _ (insert whatever deity bothers you) for that. If she sounded like L.W. does now it would be in the bin for the new album which I have bought but not listened to. There is a reason for that.
I have heard a lot about M.G. over the years but never actually heard her music. After @SteveT recommended the album I first went to YouTube and listened to around 5/6 of her songs and I was impressed. So I ordered the new LP.
A few days later I saw someone comment somewhere on`t net that If you went to M.G.`s site she had her previous 10 albumc (CDs) on sale for not a lot of cash. It worked out £57 including shipping! So going off what I`d heard of her music and her reputation it was count me in.
So I held off listening to the new album, I intended listening to her album by album in cronological order. The CDs arrived yesterday and I`ve listened to the first 3, `Drag Queens In Limousines`, `Dixie Kitchen` & `Filth & Fire`. I`ve listened to them twice each and she ain`t half good! F&F could be 6-7 albums after Drag Queens the songs and her voice have matured that much. Not that the first 2 albums are bad, just the opposite, they are great.
It could be a few days before I get round to the new album, I`m looking forward to the next 7.
Don’t agree with your assessment of current Lucinda. True the last 2 studio albums were a bit swampy – I think from the production. Her last releases though were Lu’s jukebox series and the Petty and Stones releases in particular are superb. Last gig I saw her voice was in fine form (3 years ago) – I will update you in November when I see her on Outlaw Country cruise. I am sure you are dying to know.
Sorry Steve, I know of your love for the old trout but her voice on her most recent recordings is shot at. My opinion but for me it’s the one that matters.
I’m inclined to agree with you a little about that single, Amsterdam, Junior. The problem is that it’s a happy song about being in love again. We can’t have that , can we?
I’ve been listening to Mary for a few years and have seen her live a couple of times. The last time I saw her it was just her and one other musician. She has such charisma and is such a fine singer and raconteur, she needs no more.
If you get the chance to go to one of her shows, don’t turn it down.
On the basis of all that, I think I’m prepared to allow her one happy song!
Just this once, mind you!!
I’m loving what I’m hearing. “Till I See You Again” of course featured in Carolina’s thread, which gave it extra heft, now these two samples convince me of the quality. Definitely some “BOB” Dylan in here but also plenty of Mary.
I agree about the Dylan influence, not a bad thing IMHO and that’s from listening to just the first 3 albums.
I was a bit concerned once I ordered that 10 CD bundle but I’m really looking forward to the aural journey ahead>
You made the right choice Baron. She doesn’t stand still, she doesn’t put out crap and she always has something to say.
Back in the day, Heppers did a podcast with her and she said- the world doesn’t need another good song. It needs great songs. Lofty ambitions.
I’ve ordered this from Amazon. My first CD purchase in about two years!
Thanks, Junior.
Dissenting voice …
love Mary G, especially the first three albums but this is a major disappointment. It sounds like a John Prine Tribute but it’s not even that. Given it Tiggs Six Listens and nope.
Too sweet ? Too many songs expressing her love?
I don’t understand the Prine reference.
I think there are some songs that are perhaps a bit weaker but are bolstered by instrumentation. Not her best but certainly not one I’d dismiss.
Though I was obviously wrong in saying she wont lose any fans !
Major disappointment? O, you miserable old curmudgeon, you, you sound as if you have never been touched by love or its loss, or the two mixing and mingling at the same time. Sure, her early bleak confessional stuff is darker and more striking, but that doesn’t take away the unbridled joy, expressed here, along with, rather than pain, a lot of asking why. I get the allusions to faith may stick in many a craw; I don’t share her’s but I certainly don’t begrudge. The melodies are a delight. I too hear John Prine, but also prime period Bob, not least through the never more Hudson/Manuel organ/piano interplay. A fair bit of Neil Young too, but mostly I hear Mary Gauthier.
I wouldn`t be too concerned regarding Lodey`s negative assessment, that can only be a good thing.
Drag Queens & Limousines is in the “Top 5 Records Ever Made” list.
Despite the adulation of the likes of Jason Isbell, I’ve always seen John Prine as a Poor Man’s Dylan – some brilliant songs but often drifting into trite. Both the lyrics and the enunciation of Mary on this record remind me of John Prine.
Now this is simply phenomenal –
john Prine, by his sheer profligacy, did manage a lot of, frankly, twee and anodyne material. But he could also write crackers, which is why he is way more than a second rate version of the WWHM.
Thought I had said he done wrote some brilliant songs? But compared to Dylan his Hit Miss Ratio merits the Poor Man’s description. As ever, IMHO. As ever, I could be Wrong (even though I know I’m Right)