A Favorite Juke-Joint Singer of Mine!

I’m a big Mary Gauthier fan.  And it’s not that she is from my hometown of Baton Rouge.  She’s a heck of a song writer, and the Louisiana native-turned-Nashville resident Gauthier (it’s French; pronounced Go-SHAY), whose songs have earned praise from Bob Dylan and Tom Waits, and been recorded by Jimmy Buffett, Blake Shelton and many others, is not bragging, just explaining, in that practical way of hers. It’s the same way she discusses experiences that led to some of the extraordinary songs she performs.

Mary’s truest musical roots are entwined with the sort of juke-joint country and shantytown blues associated with the likes of Johnny Cash. I heard her at a small concert in Baton Rouge at the Red Dragon listening room this past Sunday night.  Now I’m not a drinking man, but check out her song, “I Drink,” below.  One of my favorites.