As she has so eloquently accomplished over the past 25 years, acclaimed singer- songwriter Mary Gauthier uses her art to traverse uncharted waters. “I’m the kind of songwriter who writes what I see in the world right now,” she affirms. Gauthier’s early work, which began at 35, reflects her newfound sobriety, delving into events from a troubled life, which persisted after she became a renowned chef in Boston. Gauthier demonstrates a scintillating confessional mode on such albums as her breakthrough release, 2005’s Mercy Now, as well as such ear worms as the hook-laden “Drag Queens in Limousines.” In addition to crafting instantly memorable songs, Gauthier has never shied away from difficult self-exploration, as with 2010’s The Foundling, on which she explored the repercussions of her adoption from a New Orleans orphanage and subsequent search for her birth mother. On Dark Enough to See the Stars, she mourns recent devastating losses: the deaths of John Prine, David Olney, Nanci Griffith, and her beloved friend Betsy. But she also sings open-heartedly of love. All ten tracks prove Gauthier’s belief, as stated in Saved by a Song, that “songs can bring us a deep understanding of each other and ourselves and open the heart to love.”