VOA标准英语2014--Mary Gauthier Sings of 'Trouble & Love'

 

Mary Gauthier Sings of 'Trouble & Love'

Over 17 years and seven albums, Mary Gauthier has earned a reputation for baring her soul in song.  The Louisiana-born singer-songwriter has just released her first studio album in four years, “Trouble & Love.”

Gauthier used the end of a relationship and her own heartbreak as the basis for the songs on her new album. Just about everyone has experienced the feelings of sadness, despair and hope she writes about, which makes her songs accessible.  It also explains why artists as varied¹ as Jimmy Buffett, Tim McGraw and soul legend Candi Staton are among those who have covered her earlier tunes². 

One of the new songs, “How You Learn to Live Alone,” received a lot of attention even before the album was released.  Hours after Gauthier finished writing the song with collaborator³ Gretchen Peters, it was snapped up by the television show “Nashville.” On TV, it was sung by actor Jonathan Jackson.  Not that Gauthier saw him sing it.

“I was working that night. I’m actually not one to revel⁴ in it, I’m more interested in what’s ahead," she said. "I want to move forward and keep writing, I think.”  

This is Gauthier’s second career. She was a chef and co-owned a restaurant in Boston before she started writing songs at age 32. What brought her to change her life so drastically?

“I got sober from drugs and alcohol when I was 29. And that opened up a whole new life for me," she said. "What it did was put me on track with what I should have been doing all along. I was a songwriter at heart all along, but I was too messed up.”  

Now, Gauthier devotes a lot of time to teaching others how to write songs.  Her students range in age from 17 to 70.

“Everyone has one thing in common—they’re hearing voices," she said. "And the voices they’re hearing are saying ‘sing.’ ‘Write songs…you’re supposed to be doing this.’ So I just help them to have faith in the calling and believe in the voices.”

“It blew my mind that I actually had the desire to start writing, because I never in my life expected to be a songwriter,” said Amy Sue Berlin of Austin, Texas, who sat in on one of Gauthier’s songwriting workshops two years ago.  

Berlin had no intention of becoming a musician, she just wanted to see how Mary taught.  She was traveling with Gauthier, working at the musician’s merchandise table. But she had never thought of music as something she could do herself. But that all changed after hearing Gauthier talk about truth in songwriting.

“One thing she said is that there’s no substitution for saying exactly what you mean," Berlin said. "It seemed like a very obvious point, but it really set me free.”

Gauthier will be spending the next year touring the world in support of “Trouble & Love” and will be presenting songwriting workshops along the way.

1 varied   

adj.多样的，多变化的

参考例句：

• The forms of art are many and varied.艺术的形式是多种多样的。
• The hotel has a varied programme of nightly entertainment.宾馆有各种晚间娱乐活动。

2 tunes   

n.曲调，曲子( tune的名词复数 )v.调音( tune的第三人称单数 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调

参考例句：

• a potpourri of tunes 乐曲集锦
• When things get a bit too much, she simply tunes out temporarily. 碰到事情太棘手时，她干脆暂时撒手不管。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 collaborator   

n.合作者，协作者

参考例句：

• I need a collaborator to help me. 我需要个人跟我合作，帮我的忙。
• His collaborator, Hooke, was of a different opinion. 他的合作者霍克持有不同的看法。

4 revel   

vi.狂欢作乐，陶醉；n.作乐，狂欢

参考例句：

• She seems to revel in annoying her parents.她似乎以惹父母生气为乐。
• The children revel in country life.孩子们特别喜欢乡村生活。