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On this edition of "A Musician's Life" Tracey Tanenbaum speaks with Mary Gauthier. Her stunning portraits of society's downtrodden have garnered praise from critics and fans. But Gauthier has only been able to tap into these characters because of her own experiences.
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Related Pieces
Piece Description
On this edition of "A Musician's Life" Tracey Tanenbaum speaks with Mary Gauthier. Her stunning portraits of society's downtrodden have garnered praise from critics and fans. But Gauthier has only been able to tap into these characters because of her own experiences.
Broadcast History
Broadcast on WXPN-FM in Philadelphia in December 2007. Also available as an NPR podcast.
Timing and Cues
5:00
begins with music and "This is A Musician's Life. I'm TT with MG"
ends with a few seconds of music that trails off.
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Paul Ingles
Posted on May 08, 2008 at 04:26 PM | Permalink
Review of A Musician's Life: Mary Gauthier
I've had the pleasure of having Mary Gauthier play a fund-raiser of mine. She donated her time and performace, so I think highly of her and feel familiar with her story. Tracey Tannenbaum and the Musician's Life crew really captured Gauthier's essence in this 5 minute package. The key elements of her own personal story and how it connects with her music are delivered concisely (got to in 5 minutes!). One great question from Tracey to Mary. Paraphrasing - with your success and sobriety do you lose touch with the down-and-out characters your songs describe? Mary has a great answer offered to her by other greats who have managed to do the same: It's O.K. to be happy and somehow you don't lose touch.
Music stations would do well to consider running these segments to lead off special spotlight sets with these artists. It would give listeners a fabulous context from which to enjoy the music even more. Bravo!