Mary Gauthier will release new album ‘Reckoning' on 25th September 2026 via Soundly / Thirty Tigers.
The new album exudes an urgency during turbulent times, while offering inspiration and hope. Each of the nine songs serve as compelling vignettes with characters who arrive at pivotal moments and face choices that ultimately define lives, communities, and even history. Listen to the title track below:
Across more than two decades, Gauthier has built a reputation for fearless songwriting that confronts difficult subjects with honesty and compassion. Her songs have explored addiction, recovery, family, war, grief, love, and redemption—not from the sidelines, but from lived experience that she transforms into communal narratives.
Throughout ‘Reckoning', Gauthier balances urgency with perspective. The songs acknowledge the tensions of the present moment without surrendering to cynicism, instead revealing a quiet confidence, where empathy and truth remain powerful forces.
The rousing title track, co-written with Aaron Lee Tasjan, is a sweeping meditation on a world at a breaking point where personal, political, and spiritual truths can no longer be ignored. The masterfully conveyed message that there will be a dawn after the darkness compels us to choose optimism over despair. Gauthier reminds us that nothing can hold back justice, transformation or renewal forever.
‘Some Times', co-written with Vince Gill, grew from an unexpected spark and evolved into a deeply moving portrait of resilience and shared humanity that we all can relate to. ‘Soldier of Fortune', co-written with Eliza Gilkyson, draws connections between history and the present, examining the enduring consequences of extremism through a deeply human lens. ‘Heaven', a collaboration with Lori McKenna that began more than a decade ago, tells the story of an aging man confronting loss, while finding peace through faith.
With ‘Reckoning', Gauthier adds another defining chapter to a celebrated career. Intimate, courageous, and deeply resonant, the album finds one of our finest songwriters meeting a turbulent moment with clarity, compassion, and unwavering faith in the power of storytelling.
