By Kathy Sands-Boehmer

Mary Gauthier is one of a kind. Her music is profound. Her life story is inspirational. She’s a songwriter’s songwriter. I did something a little different with this Q and A and I asked several of Mary’s fans if they had any questions they’d like to ask her. So, thanks to Amy, Clytia, Brendan, John, and Tim, here they are:

Mary Gauthier

Do you have a favorite destination for playing music outside the US? What has surprised you about playing your music to those audiences?

I love playing anywhere people listen to my songs. I love small theaters and clubs that seat a couple hundred attentive listeners. I don’t have a favorite country . . . but this is my favorite environment to perform in. Give me this environment and it doesn’t matter to me where it is. There’s not many surprises these day, I’ve been touring the world for a long time now, and have been so many places that it’s very rare for me to go to a new city that I have not been to.

What are your writing habits like? How do you typically write a song? Do you have kind of set process?

I write when I am rested and not jet lagged. I write when I am inspired and when I am not inspired. I write at home and on the road. In hotels and at my desk at home. I go for long periods without writing, and then write for weeks and weeks at a time, every day. The only thing consistent about my writing process is its inconsistency.

What is the most important thing you want to emphasize to your students when you teach songwriting?

I try to teach my students to reveal themselves, to open up all the way, to say the things most people wouldn’t want to say about themselves…to be vulnerable, to be honest… to know their songs are the very best they can write before they bring them out into the world.

What are the similarities between the restaurant business and songwriting?

Both businesses boast more failures than successes. Both businesses are very, very hard to sustain. Both present challenges that I find attractive because of their levels of difficulty.

We know that you had a successful restaurant here in Boston. Do you still like to cook? What do you cook when you want to “impress” someone?

I think that simplicity is impressive, be it in songwriting or in food. I keep it simple. There’s nothing more impressive than a homegrown tomato in the summer time, juicy and ripe, drizzled in a great olive oil and balsamic vinegar with cracked fresh black pepper and sea salt, and maybe some chopped sweet basil tossed on top. Simple, wonderful, and memorable. I see no need to get much more complicated than that.

For additional information about Mary Gauthier and her music, check out her website.

Like many of us, Kathy Sands-Boehmer wears many hats. An editor by profession, she also operates Harbortown Music, books artists for the Me and Thee Coffeehouse in Marblehead, Massachusetts and serves as vice president of the Boston Area Coffeehouse Association. In her spare time, Kathy can be found at local music haunts all over New England. This and many previous Q & A interviews with artists are archived at www.meandthee.org/blog/txp/, as well as in the Features section of AcousticMusicScene.com..