Mary Gauthier’s Mercy Now has always worked like a prayer someone forgot they were praying — a plea for grace extended toward family, country, and whatever larger compassion we keep hoping the world might still extend. Twenty years after that album changed her life, she brings its anniversary tour to Colony Woodstock on Friday, September 4, for what she calls “a continuation of a long conversation with kindred souls.”
About the Show
This is the “Celebrating the 20th Anniversary of Mercy Now” tour, and Gauthier means every word of it. Released in 2006 and received as one of the most emotionally honest folk records of its era, Mercy Now addressed grace, compassion, and redemption in the face of familial struggle and political turmoil. The title track became what more than one observer has called “a beloved anthem of resilience, hope, and hard-won humanity.” The Associated Press has called her “one of the best songwriters of her generation,” and over twenty-five years of releasing albums she has given that assessment very little cause for revision. She is also releasing a vinyl reissue of the record to mark the occasion.
Much of what gives Gauthier’s work its staying power is its origins. Her writing draws from personal experience with adoption, recovery, and growing up LGBTQ+ in the American South — territory that lends her songs a moral weight they don’t have to earn through rhetoric. Her Grammy-nominated 2018 album Rifles & Rosary Beads, built in collaboration with wounded Iraq war veterans, extended that commitment into work of particular social consequence. Her memoir, Saved by a Song: The Art and Healing Power of Songwriting (St. Martin’s Press, 2021), reflects on what that process has meant. Brandi Carlile offered the simplest summary: “Mary’s songwriting speaks to the tender aspects of our humanness.”
Joining her as special guest is Jaimee Harris, a Texas-born singer-songwriter NPR has described as “poised to become the next queen of Americana-Folk.” Her album Boomerang Town examines the generational arc of family and the stranglehold of addiction, emotionally demanding work that makes her a natural companion for Gauthier’s project.
Venue & Logistics
Colony Woodstock holds 150 people, about right for what Gauthier has called “a continuation of a long conversation with kindred souls.” It sits in one of the Hudson Valley‘s great music towns, where audiences tend to arrive ready to listen. Doors open at 6 p.m.; the show begins at 7 p.m.
Tickets
Tickets are $29–$35. Attendees under 18 must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian. Buy tickets.