Meet and hear more from Mary Sarah of The Voice Season 10

The Voice

Meet and hear more from Mary Sarah of The Voice Season 10

March 9, 2016 By Mark Franklin 0

Her audition: Mary Sarah, 20, of Richmond, Texas, auditioned with “Where the Boys Are” by Connie Francis. Her standout vocals prompted an early chair turn from Adam Levine. Blake Shelton and Pharrell Williams soon followed. A big note got Christina Aguilera to turn as well, giving Mary Sarah the second four-chair turn of Season 10. Blake praised her representation of a bygone era in country music. And Mary joined Team Blake.

Her background: She works at Boot Barn part-time but, of course, her heart is on the stage as a performer. She says she started singing at age 9 and was introduced to the Oprys in Texas by her dad when she was 13. “The crowds aren’t the youngest,” she notes, but she fell in love with the music of Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn. She wound up being invited to perform with the Oak Ridge Boys, and that led to an opportunity to do a country classics album filled with duets with the likes of Dolly Parton, Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson. “It got a little attention,” Mary Sarah says, “but it wasn’t my golden ticket.”

What the show didn’t show:

Her audition song — “Where the Boys Are” — is the same song she performed with the Oak Ridge Boys at Galveston’s Grand Theatre in 2014.

She also performed when the Oak Ridge Boys were inducted into Texas Country Music Hall of Fame in Carthage, Texas.

That album “Bridges” also includes duets with county greats Tanya Tucker, Lynn Anderson, Ray Price and others. She duets with the Oak Ridge Boys on “Dream On.” And with Neil Sedaka on — that’s right, “Where the Boys Are.”

The album includes one solo — Mary Sarah covering Brenda Lee’s “I’m Sorry.”

As for her love of classic country, Mary Sarah says “it’s really hard not to connect with those songs. Patsy (Cline) and Loretta (Lynn) — just to hear the emotion in their voices is absolutely amazing.”

Mary Sarah said it was “heartbreaking” to realize many of her friends weren’t even familiar with the artists she was doing duets with. That’s one reason the album was called “Bridges” — the hope that the album would serve as a link between generations.

“Bridges” isn’t Mary Sarah’s only country release. She put out a nine-track album called “Crazy Good” in 2010 and an eight-track album called “Dress Up This Town” last year.

The latest album includes a host of catchy mid-tempo tunes, including “More Jack Than Ice,” “Thinking About Last Night” and the excellent title tune. I featured “Dress Up This Town” here. You can check out a couple of the other tracks below.

In an interview you can watch here, Mary Sarah, also a songwriter, says she “loves all genres. I don’t limit myself to one. But my heart and soul is in country music.”

Mary Sarah has a brother who was born prematurely. She’s now a national ambassador for Caiden’s Hope – Providing Hope in the Midst of Trial Foundation. It’s a charity that assists families who have a premature baby.

On iTunes: All three of the aforementioned albums, plus her performance from The Voice.

Keeping up with Mary Sarah:
Twitter: @MarySarahMusic
Website
Facebook
YouTube

“More Jack Than Ice” (from her 2015 album)