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‘The Only Thing’ is an excellent slow burn blues, then it’s the very bluesy soul of the title track
and the lilting ‘Break My Fall’ (it reminds me a little of Etta James!). A couple more excellent

soul tracks - let’s not get blasé about this though, they are good - very good!
I did ask you to wait earlier. That’s because in a complete change of style, for the final number,
‘Let The Devil Win’, Marcus switches to a classic southern rock approach and does it extremely

well. It’s a bit of a shock at first, but it does work and proves that Marcus has more strings to his
bow. Recommended rather highly!

Norman Darwen

Mean Mary (Mary James)—Woman Creature - Portrait of
a Woman, Part 2—Bluestown Music

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGQ9h5rl_T8

The banjo gets a bad press. The instrument is the butt (pun)
of many jokes and the source of much levity in the musical
history of the Americas. Think Grandpa Jones and Minnie Pearl
who both made careers out of milking the Appalachian /
hillbilly-hick roots of the instrument and the kind of
backwoods dorkiness that surrounded it; a stereotype that
still exists today.

But that aura of ‘hickery’ is a bit of an illusion. Things are not
quite what they seem. The blues field has had a few exemplars of outstanding musicianship
employing the instrument (check out, for example Papa Charlie Jackson) and the field of
bluegrass music can boast some magnificent instumentalists such as Earl Scruggs (who invented
his own style of banjo playing), Ralph Stanley and (this is true) actor Steve Martin, to say nothing
of Béla Fleck and Jens Kruger who hails originally from Switzerland.

Now, although Mary James calls herself “an americana, bluegrass, blues, folk artist from
Nashville.” she takes her music to places where it finds new fertile soil in which to set its roots.
Mary’s music is always tinged with a kind of Gothic feel and her exemplary musicianship adds
an artistic element that raises the banjo (or any instrument she plays, including her voice) to
the pinnacle; a virtuoso summit rarely achieved. This is sophisticated, technically accomplished
music is elevated even higher by glorious song structure and thoughtful, thought provoking,
lyrics and melodies.

Take for example the song ‘Murder Creek’, a murder ballad in the old tradition, delivered with
panache and skill. More and seven minutes long as befits the story and with 25 verses set in
three keys. It is a tour de force centering on the tensions in rural Alabama. Deep rooted,
longstanding grudges and animosities set to music and with a lyrical and musical structure that
raise it to the level of a masterpiece. A magical insight to rural life with the haunting capacity to
make you feel as though you actually know some of the characters that flit in and out of the
story. “Becca Taylor who…looks down and scurries out of sight…She smelled of what she’d been
baking..Just like she did that night” . Quite, quite wonderful.

“I’ve lived my whole life free, But I’m losing my lucky streak, And I’m thinking soon the whole
world will know, What happened at Murder Creek”.

This album is worth its cost for this track alone and there are nine others to savour. Outstanding!

Ian K McKenzie

Mean Mary is touring in the UK from 20 April 2025 to 04 May 2025. Check meanmary.com