Mean Mary will be returning to Sundilla on Friday, September 17. Showtime at Pebble Hill is 7:30; $15 advance tickets are available at Spicer’s Music, Ross House Coffee, and online at www.sundillamusic.com. Admission at the door will be $20. Weather permitting, this will be an OUTDOOR show. (In case of rain or oppressive heat, we’ll move indoors.) Attendees are welcome to bring whatever food or beverage they prefer.
So the first question is always: just how mean is Mean Mary? The answer is: not at all. The name comes from the title of the very first song she wrote, which was called “Mean Mary from Alabam.” She has been stuck with the nickname ever since, which equates to almost her whole life; she wrote the song when she was all of five years old. She has evolved from that child prodigy who played for tips on the streets of Nashville (“startling talent” said the Tennessean) to a seasoned performer and headliner of over 4000 festivals and concerts (“the voice of a ragged Angel combined with the banjo playing of the Devil” says No Depression).
Mary’s life story involves living in homemade tents, building cabins, getting attacked by bears, catching live rattlesnakes, passing a high-school equivalency test at age nine, co-writing four novels with her mother, and so much more that her bio takes up four pages; it is almost a fifth novel. The musical highlights include recording her first album at age six, and daily appearances on the Country Boy Eddie Show by the end of second grade. During this time, she also appeared regularly in Nashville, Tennessee at the Nashville Palace, on the Nashville Network, the Elvis Presley Museum, and on Printer’s Alley.
Mary’s music is a blend of folk, bluegrass, and blues, and she is proficient on ten instruments, but centering her songwriting efforts on just the banjo, has been helpful in focusing her sound. “When you play multiple instruments, you spread your time between them, and it’s been a lot of fun centering just on one instrument over the last few years and writing instrumentals specifically for it,” she says. “And it’s not necessarily bluegrass, though a lot of people think of the banjo as specifically a bluegrass instrument. I like to mix everything from blues to folk-rock into what I write.”
Deering Banjo’s named her their Goodtime Ambassador, and Janet Deering describes her banjo playing as giving her “chills.” Equally versatile on guitar, fiddle, and 8 other instruments, Mary is known internationally for her lightning-fast fingers, haunting vocals, and intricate story songs. As a high-energy performer that thrives on variety and as a songwriter that chooses unusual subject matters, anything from ghost pirates to demon guitars could romp through a Mean Mary show.
Another important aspect of Mean Mary’s sound is James’ resonant, emotional vocal performances, though there was a time that she thought she’d have to retire from performing. In her mid-teens, James was in a car accident that paralyzed her right vocal cord. It was only after extensive rehabilitation that she was able to sing again. And once she was again able to sing, she never stopped.
Mean Mary will be appearing at Sundilla on Friday, September 17. Showtime at Pebble Hill is 7:30; $15 advance tickets are available at Spicer’s Music, Ross House Coffee, and online at Sundillamusic.com. Admission at the door will be $20.