Mary Gauthier’s redemptive country-folk
By Seth Rogovoy

(GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass., February 2, 2001) -- Mary Gauthier’s acoustic, rootsy “Drag Queens in Limousines” (In the Black) is a deceptively quiet album, for Gauthier’s delicate, portraits of life in the margins pack the emotional impact of Metallica’s or Nine Inch Nails’s sonic overdrive.

Whether she’s relating a conversation with her mother about death (“Lifetime”), or portraying the loneliness of a boy who lives entirely in a fantasy world (“Jackie’s Train”), or empathizing with the state-executed killer, Karla Faye Tucker (“Karla Faye”), or telling her own story of leaving home and hanging out with society’s castoffs on the title track, Gauthier’s songs all take an unflinching view of things.

Her Louisiana twang recalls Lucinda Williams and her penchant for country two-steps reminds one of John Prine, and the gospel-inflected keyboards and her half-sung, half-spoken vocal style suggest Gauthier might have spent some time listening to Bob Dylan’s “New Morning.”

Gauthier, who performs at Club Helsinki next Thursday, Feb. 8, invests her songs with sprinklings of autobiography, from stealing the family car (twice) and running away from home at age 15 to stints in rehab and prison. She doesn’t glorify her checkered past and the alcoholics, drug addicts and misfits she met along the way so much as she finds dignity in basic humanity, wherever it lurks.

Gauthier has packed a lifetime of experience into her young years. After haunting society’s edges for several years, she pulled herself together and studied philosophy at Louisiana State University, went to culinary school, and eventually opened an award-winning restaurant in Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood.

But with the success of her 1997 debut album, “Dixie Kitchen,” and the follow-up, “Drag Queens,” Gauthier has made music her full-time gig. Still a relative unknown, she has graced the stages of the top folk festivals acorss the nation, including Kerrville, Strawberry, Philadelphia and Newport. Last year, she was named best country artist at GLAMA (Gay and Lesbian American Music Awards).

This weekend, Club Helsinki heats up the winter with two acts playing music derived primarily from tropical climes. Philadelphia’s Princes of Babylon plays an eclectic brand of soul-influenced hip-hop, with bits of jazz and reggae thrown in. Coming out of the same scene as G. Love and Special Sauce, the group, which includes members of G. Love’s band, plays clubs like Wetlands in New York and is coming to the Iron Horse in Northampton in late March - just one more bit of proof that Helsinki has fast become the Iron Horse of the Berkshires.

On Saturday night, Boston-based Babaloo www.punkmambo.com returns to Helsinki. The group describes its blend of Latin rhythms, reggae, African and world-beat music as “punk-mambo hardcore juju.” The group sings in several languages, including French, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, English and Swahili, and its songs styles include soca, calypso, merengue, soukous, bossa nova, mambo, ju ju, cha cha, reggae, samba, and ska.

Helsinki has announced a new slew of acts coming to the club in coming weeks, including Topax (Feb. 9), The Band offshoot Professor Louie and the Crowmatix (Feb. 10), Albert Cummings and Swamp Yankees (Feb. 16), Ron Levy (Feb. 17), Dr. Didg (Feb. 22), Club D’Elf with John Medeski (Feb. 23), Olu Dara (Feb. 24), reggae royalty Sugar Minott and Shaggy Williams (Feb. 27).

Also Stacey Earle’s husband Mark Stuart (March 1), Cliff Eberhardt (March 2), Holmes Brothers (March 3), Jeb Loy Nichols (March 7), Black Rebels (March 10), Vance Gilbert (March 15), Red Beans (March 16), The Hot Heads (March 17), Johnny A (March 23), Fred Eaglesmith (March 30), Tarbox Ramblers (March 31), and Steve Forbert (April 27).

The are many other acts due at the club in coming weeks, including some very big names in jazz, blues and progressive acoustic music. Stay tuned.

Around here bluegrass tends to be summertime music, played beneath the sun and stars at outdoor festivals at sprawling campgrounds. But even bluegrass fans need something to do in the winter.

To address the needs of bluegrass pickers and fans in the dead of winter, this weekend Bucksteep Manor www.bucksteepmanor.com in the town of Washington plays host to a weekend-long “pickin’ party,” according to Bucksteep manager Mark Pitsch.

“We hope to fill all 22 guest rooms with pickers and grinners, with the party starting on Friday night and continuing until Sunday afternoon,” said Pitsch in a written statement.

The weekend’s main event takes place tomorrow night, when three-time national flat-picking champion Steve Kaufman performs at Bucksteep at 8. Warming up the crowd for Kaufman are Mike Boulay and Friends, including the Berkshires’ own Robert and Lillian Fraker of the Bear Bridge Band, Lucas Schwartz on fiddle, and Dave Barney on banjo.

Kaufman’s music covers a broad range of styles including bluegrass favorites, popular swing standards, Irish and Appalachian fiddle tunes and country classics. Kaufman has what might be considered a non-traditional background for a bluegrass musician; born in New York City, his father was a jazz pianist and his mother was a classical pianist.

Kaufman, whose website www.firebottle.com/flatpik includes a list of banjo jokes, is also known for his books, instructional videos and guitar workshops. Kaufman will also be on hand to teach an eight-hour workshop.

“If you like bluegrass music you will like this weekend. Come and stay, come and play or just to listen. There will be music all weekend long,” said Pitsch. For more information, call 413-623-5535.

Backstage bits

Plans are firming up for the second annual Pittsfield FolkFest, to be held on March 10 in the Koussevitzky Performance Center on the campus of Berkshire Community College. The lineup is divided between a couple of national stars and a couple of Berkshire ones. New-folk veteran Bill Morrissey headlines the bill, which also includes rising star Jess Klein, last seen in these parts opening for Richie Havens at Tanglewood last fall. The show also includes two of Berkshire’s best: Sarah Lee Guthrie and Bobby Sweet.

[This column originally appeared in the Berkshire Eagle on Feb. 2, 2001. Copyright Seth Rogovoy 2001. All rights reserved.]