Mary Lou Lord: From the T to the Stage

Sapphire Supper Club, March 5, 1998

The big rumor, at least artistic rumor, about Mary Lou Lord is that she is first and foremost a street musician. Before being picked up in the early 1990's by the Kill Rock Stars label, and now Sony, she performed for several years in the musty halls of the Boston T System, playing the same three or four songs over and over again to passers-by who occasionally threw her spare change. I've been told by several people that this is a lifestyle that she holds dearly enough to actually return to, that she is someone who doesn't forget her roots.

Judging from her performance at Sapphire last night, I can attest that this rumor is true.

Before the show, she hovered about, signing autographs and chatting with whomever approached her - not really as a main act, but more like an Everywoman who just happened to be hanging out there for the night. During the energetic and enjoyable set from the opening act, The Raging Teens, a rockabilly band from New Hampshire, Mary Lou Lord stood in the back corner of the dance floor, swaying slightly where she stood and occasionally helping The Raging Teens through some technical difficulties (difficulties that would continue through the night, I'm afraid).

Then, during her set, she managed to maintain a healthy enthusiasm about her that was enough to keep the audience connected to her wave-length for the entire show, despite being plagued constantly with cueing mistakes, muffled sound, and sound problems. It was like she knew that it was all part of the job and that she would most likely be laughing at all the mishaps later.

She came out with her five piece band and just sort of started playing. No flashy entrance, no big speeches. 'I think we're ready,' she said, and then she burst into 'Supergun,' a not-so-subtle song of innuendo ('Oh no, not again/Supergun's so cruel') from her just released, and wonderful, new album, Got No Shadow. Most of the songs in her set came from her new album.

From there, she went into her current single, 'His Lamest Flame,' which despite its muffled sound, built to something memorable simply because of the earnestness of her voice.

It was that sort of earnestness that kept me with her through the performance. Whenever a problem occurred - like a near twenty-minute delay because of microphone problems, or the crowd's conversations at one point becoming louder than her guitar - she handled things gracefully, with a sort of 'Shit Happens' grin on her face. Then when she played, she played strongly. The whole attitude was best exhibited during her cover of Shawn Colvin's 'Polaroids,' during an acoustic mini-set. Before the song began, she shooed her band off stage so that she could play it alone. Then she told the loudly conversing crowd, 'Will you please shut the fuck up for just this song, please?' Then, when she started playing, she realized she was in the wrong key, stopped the song, admitted her fault, changed keys, and then continued, eventually turning the song into something blissful.

As the night went on, things went more smoothly. The sound grew clearer and the energy of the band rose. The Byrds-inspired 'Some Jingle Jangle Morning' was solid and energetic, and the set closer, 'Lights Are Changing', rocked with an intensity that made me wonder how well the show could have gone had everything been right from the start.

Eyal Goldshmid
I am a fiction writer supporting myself as a government clerk for the US army. Until I can fully live off writing, I plan to milk all the luxury I can from the American taxpayer.