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" If somebody in a family is in service, the whole family is in service. I didn't know that. I didn't know our veterans were being deployed seven, eight, nine, 10 times. It's inhumane. "

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" What I was told is that I was born to a mother who was a Catholic, while her boyfriend was not. They couldn't get married unless they put me up for adoption. "

Mary Gauthier

Her

Mother

" I don't have the experience of being in a war. "

" The world doesn't need any more pretty good songs. "

Mary Gauthier

Good

Need

" I think we're very much in a mystery here in this life and that artists try to pierce the mystery with their art. "

" Fundamentally, our job as songwriters is to sit down and listen. "

" I've got lots of problems. Being gay isn't one of them. "

" If I write for beauty and truth, the songs will find their way to me. Then, it's the songs that speak to the audience, and they can become part of the tribe that is into what I do. "

" People in Ireland take in the whole song. After a long history of great singers and songwriters and poets, they are able to consume the entire song - not just the external; they go inside. "

" Songs have been my greatest teachers and continue to be really important in my life. "

" Soldiers are trained not to be vulnerable, but when they come home, they've got to learn it. "

" The job of the artist is to go to the places where most other people are embarrassed to go to. And show it. "

Mary Gauthier

Job

Artist

" I spent my 18th birthday in jail. Charges were dropped as long as I promised never to return to the state of Kansas. My parents took me home to Louisiana. I lasted there a week. Then I ran away. "

Mary Gauthier

Long

Parents

" I'm from New Orleans, and I have a French last name - although I have no real relationship with my last name because it's not my name. I don't know my name. "

" If I start tracing, I bet I will find a writer in my family tree. "

" I'm an old-fashioned folk singer. I stand in front of an audience with a guitar and a barstool. "

" Ultimately, what I want is for my songs to outlive me: I want my songs to keep being played even after I'm gone. "

Mary Gauthier

Gone

Even

" I've learned our soldiers are so much like everybody else. They're just put into an extreme situation. "

Mary Gauthier

Just

Much

" I think having near-death experiences, they sure made me free. "

" I write to make some sense of things that confuse me. The mechanics of my own heart are the most confusing I know about - and don't know about - and other people's are a bit confusing, too. "

Mary Gauthier

Heart

Know

" I was in the orphanage in New Orleans until I was almost a year old. I don't think I ever got held by my mama, so that was completely and utterly traumatic. I think it was trauma from the first breath, and I think I've spent my whole life trying to heal from that trauma. So it shaped my brain. "

" Melody's like tweezers that go into the infection and pull out the wounded part. You can almost not stay silent in the face of a melody that matches your emotion. You feel seen. "

Mary Gauthier

Silent

Feel

" We can't see ourselves very clearly. This I learned as a songwriter. I'm forever trying to figure out what my own truth is. "

" I'm a traveler and a vagabond and an observer, and the songs come through that. And that's just the way it's going to be. "

" What I really like is this salted calamari - with jalapenos on top. "

Mary Gauthier

Top

Really

" I got issues. Boy, have I got issues. "

" I haven't been in the military, but I've known my share of pain. It allows me to sit with someone who's struggling and not be afraid. "

Mary Gauthier

Afraid

Someone

" I got sober at 27 and started writing around 30 and started playing music in public around 32, 33. "

" When I became a songwriter, it was out of some sort of desperation. I needed to create something. I had to latch on to something, and the guitar was what I grabbed. "

" It can take me many months to write one of my own songs. "

" My experience is that the universal is the personal. If you can get past your navel-gazing into the deepest part of yourself as a writer, you find everyone - we're all there. "