Drag Queens in Limousines: Celebrating 25 Years of Mary Gauthier

What out lesbian moves to Nashville at 40 years old to start a troubadour career? Who goes from playing open mics to playing the Newport Folk Festival in one year’s time?

It’s been 25 years since Mary Gauthier released her groundbreaking debut album Drag Queens in Limousines. Eighteen months after this record was released, the response was so incredible that she hung up her chef’s coat, moved to Nashville, and started to make her mark as an exciting new voice in the songwriting world.

Drag Queens in Limousines is an anthem for anyone who has ever felt like an outsider. It turns out, that’s all of us. Hailed by the Associated Press as “one of the best songwriters of her generation,” Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Gauthier has presented extraordinary confessional songs — deeply personal, profoundly emotional pieces.

Gauthier has brought folks from all walks of life together with her deeply personal, yet paradoxically universal work. By writing about what matters most to her, having the courage to sing what’s often too hard for us to say, and delivering the work authentically, Gauthier opened the gate and widened the path that many who came after her have traveled. 

“Drag queens in limousines, nuns in blue jeans, dreamers with big dreams, they all took me in.” – Mary Gauthier