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The BiTS Interview: Mary ‘Mean Mary’ James

Mary James (born March 22, 1980), known by the stage name Mean Mary, is an
American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, novelist, producer and YouTube

personality. She has been described as having “the unique ability to mix together a
variety of musical styles, which can appeal to a wide audience”and her childhood has

been described as “a nomadic life that could have been plucked from an adventure

novel.” Ian McKenzie spoke to her on the telephone at her home near Nashville, TN.

BiTS: Okay, let’s make a start. I want
to talk to you first of all about your
upbringing, particularly the travelling
around that you did with your dad,
who seems to have had a bit of
wanderlust, to say the least
[chuckling].

MJ: Yes, I can blame both my parents
on that one. I was the youngest of six,
and my dad was 60 [laughs] when I
was born. There was 25 years
difference between my parents, so I
was kind of a last-minute surprise.
And yes, my dad retired early. He was
legally blind, and both my parents just
always wanted to do the whole live off
the land, you know, kind of lifestyle,

they kind of both had, but they packed
us kids up and moved to Minnesota,
northern Minnesota and right before
winter. We lived in a plastic Visqueen™
tent, until we built a log cabin by hand
with just an axe [laughing] and yes so
there is lots of exciting things that
happened in my childhood, and it was
a blast.

BiTS: I guess it was home-schooling,
was it, that was done by your mum and dad?

MJ: Well, I didn’t go into home-schooling until I finished the second grade woo hoo! I was
seven. It was the music that brought on the home-schooling. So me and my brother, Frank, we
were the only kids that got involved with music and the other ones went into the military and
make a lot more money now than I will ever make [laughing] with very successful careers. Me
and my brother, we did the music, and I was touring so much that home-schooling became
necessary just to be able to keep up with my schedule.

BiTS: By the time you were six, you were performing in public. What was that like? I mean, it
looks to me as though your instrument must have been bigger than you were!