It was gratifying to see that Gauthier’s return to Whelan’s was to play to a full house on a wet Sunday night. The show was opened by Jaimee Harris on her first visit to the renowned venue. Harris released her debut album, RED RESCUE, last year and performed some songs from that album. She told us it was aan honour to be playing a venue she’d heard a lot about. She also shared that she suffered from depression and was inclined to stay on her couch watching true crime programmes. A brave but important reveal. Another anecdote concerned a tour companion who told her about his first wife. Someone that Harris wasn’t aware of at that time. The person her friend had married lived in a house were everything was red. This inspired the title song of her album. It was also the final song of her five song set. She brought Mary Gauthier onto the stage to sing it with her as indeed she had also previously been joined by Michele Gazich on violin - a player of much skill and dexterity who also had the an engaging visual presence, which added to the overall show.
This was a seamless introduction, as with no break between acts, Mary Gauthier then played her full set accompanied by both players. She dipped into her extensive back catalogue with such numbers as Our Lady Of The Shooting Stars, Another Train, When A Woman Goes Cold, Oh Soul andThank God For You. She finished the show with her well known song Mercy Now. There were also a couple of cover songs in Fred Eaglesmith’s Cigarette Machine and Woody Guthrie’s This Land Is Your Land. The latter as an encore which had the whole audience joining in for the rousing chorus.
However, the centrepiece of the show was a selection of shows songs from her most recent RIFLES & ROSARY BEADS album. Gauthier had been working for five years with SongwritingWith: Soldiers a project where she worked collaborated with veterans or with their wives as a method of helping with the healing process. One that she found rewarding in so many ways. She eloquently explained the process and the individual stories behind the songs she sang and included tonight which were The War After The War, Soldiering On, Stronger Together (a song that considered the lives that the wives of members of the EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) team have to endure and It’s Her Love; something that a veteran told her was what kept him going, even though he couldn’t express that to his wife.
This writing process was real and necessary,but likely only dealt with a fraction of the overall problem that veterans worldwide face on a daily basis. That 22 soldiers a day, she revealed, are dying by suicide in the USA is a statistic you don’t hear trumpeted and you also don’t often get hear their stories. That these songs were not glorifying the reasons that the soldiers were in the military was a point she stressed, rather that they should be seen as prayers for peace.
There was a passion to Gauthier in her singing, which was the best I have ever heard from her. She is a terrific songwriter and her lyrics are up there with the best. Throughout, as mentioned, she had the sweet harmonies of Harris and the sensitive and empathic playing of Gazich to give these songs an added depth and range. There were times when the enraptured audience listened in complete silence to Gauthier - something that is not always possible in a venue like Whelan’s. The evening was special for all involved and we all look forward to Gauthier’s next album and return visit.
Review by Stephen Rapid Photography by Kaethe Burt-O’Dea