This came out in 2003 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
There are two kinds of women in country and roots music: Pop-tart bimbos like Shania Twain and Faith Hill who seem to be doing their best to ruin it, and honky-tonk angels doing their best to save it. The latter includes Lucinda Williams, Gillian Welch, Emmylou Harris and Neko Case — and now, Mary Gauthier.
Boston-based but Louisiana-raised, Gauthier is a dark-hearted Southern gothic singer-songwriter of the first order, weaving a haunting spell with her world-weary twang and unflinching tales of drifters, drugs and downtrodden lovers. Filth & Fire, her addictive third album, will likely remind many of Lucinda, partly for its tragic narratives and partly because it was produced by Williams’ erstwhile collaborator Gurf Morlix. But Gauthier is no one-note copycat; her sound is all her own, acknowledging the influence of everyone from Bobbie Gentry to John Prine and incorporating everything from reggae to tear-in-your-beer country. If anyone can help save roots music, it’s her.
