Maine news, sports, weather from Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram, Portland, Maine

I first got wind of singer-songwriter Mary Gauthier marygauthier.com when her 2005 album "Mercy Now" was released. Some pals and I caught her on that tour at Tupelo Music Hall in New Hampshire. Man alive, she was something else.

Gauthier, (prounounced GO-SHAY) is originally from New Orleans but, after a difficult childhood and young adulthood, she wound up in Boston where she ran The Dixie Chicken Cajun restaurant for several years.

She started writing songs in her mid 30s and since then has released six studio albums and a live one.

Believe me when I tell you Mary Gauthier is as real as they come. She hides behind nothing with her songs and isn't out to do anything but sing her truth, which she does so well.

Her show is tonight (Thursday, March 7) at 8 p.m. Scott Nolan Opens. Tickets are $25 onelongfellowsquare.com

Here are 5 of my favorite Gauthier songs. When you hear "Christmas in Paradise" know that I actually tracked down the Cow Key bridge while vacationing in Key West a couple of years ago.

"Our Lady of the Shooting Stars"

"Mercy Now"

"Christmas in Paradise"

"Wheel Inside the Wheel"

"Drag Queens in Limousines"

About the Author

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Aimsel Ponti has been obsessed with - and inspired by- music since she listened to Monkees records borrowed from the town library when she was six years old. She's a huge fan of the local music scene and interviews an act every week for "Making Noise" which runs in the Press Herald GO section. You'll also find her out and about absorbing live music like a sponge and roaming around local record shops and flea markets.

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