Quote of the Day

Our songs are conversations, not sermons.  They move out into the world as dialogues, not only to entertain, but to engage.  They come to us to show us the way, and we offer them as gifts, generosities, to those who might receive them.

-- Mary Gauthier, "Mercy (and Love)"

Quote of the Day

Dr. King began writing his mighty book Strength to Love when jailed for holding a prayer vigil outside Albany City Hall.  In his jail cell, Dr. King wrote, "Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.  Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that."  So it was then, so it is now.  We are all writing from one kind of jail cell or another, working to free ourselves.

-- Mary Gauthier, "Mercy (and Love)"

Quote of the Day

The need for truth is Primal, as necessary as food and water.  And what is the truth?  We belong to each other.  We need each other.  Mercy (and love) are the roads we travel, home.  Spirit blows truth through songwriters on the winds of the creative process, and our creations have the power to free us from untruths.

-- Mary Gauthier, "Mercy (and Love)"

Quote of the Day

Mercy and love are who we are, unwounded.  Songwriting (and all the arts) are how we explore the depths of our being to ask the big questions of meaning, purpose and value.  The process is one of self discovery, more than self expression.

-- Mary Gauthier, "Mercy (and Love)"

Quote of the Day

David Bowie showed this queer kid from Baton Rouge that gender outlaws are cool.  Androgyny=rock&roll, not a reason to kill myself.
 
-- Mary Gauthier

Quote of the Day

(David Bowie) shattered the binary idea of gender -- as being male or female -- and he created that middle.  He showed us what a man looked like in a dress, and it was beautiful.  There was an inner femininity, but it was masculine, too.

-- Mary Gauthier, "Bowie lauded as an artist who made it OK to be different"

Quote of the Day

I think we're reborn many times in this life.  Thank God, I'm an artist.  I think that's that function of art -- in some ways, it's a form of rebirth.  [You] create, and recreate a world for yourself.  It's what artists do, it's the nature of art, and I think artists are particularly wounded.  The wounded are drawn to the arts.
 
-- Mary Gauthier

Quote of the Day

(Thinking about writing my book is) quite intimidating.  [But] I just show up and do my best.  It's like playing the Opry.  I stood on that stage.  I just went "OK, here we go." ... I've been elevated to the point where it's not certain I can pull this off, but I'll do my best.  There's something guiding me, helping me.  You know, I just feel I got those angel wings on my shoulders.  It's just angels around me.  I felt that way when I played the Newport Folk Festival the first time.  There was some sort of something that had me, going "You got this, we got you.  All together."  It's some sort of something strange, no word for it ... I don't know how to explain it except to say, "I'm not alone up there."

-- Mary Gauthier

Quote of the Day

Songs are music and words glued together with magic.  Songwriters apply the glue.
 
-- Mary Gauthier

Quote of the Day

At the end of the day, songwriting is conjury.  The conjurer is often as mystified as anyone as to where our creations come from.  We often can't explain how we do what we do because we don't fully understand it ourselves.  But in the right mood, with the right frame of mind, there's a feeling of being an antenna, receiving, then transmitting, receiving, then transmitting.  Great songs are more than words and music.  Welded together just right, they become emotional electricity.

-- Mary Gauthier

Quote of the Day

Basic knowledge of music and melody is helpful, but songwriting doesn't require a music education.  Emotional literacy is what matters.  There are generations of timeless songs "written" by illiterate songwriters, and brilliant songwriters who don't play any instruments at all.  Irving Berlin, the composer of countless beloved standards couldn't read or write music.  He played almost entirely in the key of F-sharp, allowing him to stay on the black keys as much as possible.

-- Mary Gauthier

Words and Music

I am thrilled to be able to combine two of my great loves tomorrow -- music and literature/writing. I will be attending a roundtable discussion featuring Mary Gauthier, Minton Sparks, Linford Detweiler and Karin Berquist of Over the Rhine, and Julie Lee. The musicians will discuss "Shadows of the Word: Songwriters and Literary Legacies of Religion and Place." The gathering concludes a series hosted by Nashville's Vanderbilt University focusing on the late author Flannery O'Connor (pictured above).