Photo Credit: Shervin Lainez
Americana artist Mary Bragg released a new single titled “Please Don’t Be Perfect.” The track is the second she has released this year, hinting at a new album coming in 2022.
“As it turns out, trying to be perfect, pretending to be, or being disappointed when things aren’t just so, robs you of your serenity,” stated Bragg. “Lately I’ve been trying to look my unrealistic expectations in the eye and deny their access to my joy. Little by little, I’m learning that life – and relationships – are made richer by being human.”
This fall, Bragg released “The Lonely Persistence of Time,” marking her return since the release of her critically celebrated 2019 album Violets as Camouflage. Lush with broad strokes of expressive electric guitars, Bragg’s plaintive mezzo soprano lilts and shimmers with understated longing. Bragg stated, “Inspired by Salvador Dali’s painting ‘The Persistence of Memory,’ this song was written as a reflection of the sometimes painstakingly slow passing of time, and how, when forced to sit with your own thoughts, it can be impossible not to obsess over a broken heart trying to repair itself, asking, ‘how do you find another love that defies time?'”
Bragg also released a pair of holiday singles last month: a brand new original titled “Snuggle Season” and a cover of the Counting Crows’ classic “A Long December.” “The holidays, for me, officially begin when you’re snuggled up in front of Charlie Brown, or White Christmas, with some hot chocolate, or a hot toddy,” she said. “And this heartbreaking classic from Counting Crows has always struck me as a brutally honest winter song, going to the places a lot of holiday songs won’t go. But even in that pause to reflect on pain, the impending new year offers some hope, that ‘maybe this year will be better than the last.'”
Dubbed the “Americana Queen” (Noisey), Bragg has earned countless critical praise for her achingly honest and vulnerable songwriting. Her 2017 breakthrough album Lucky Strike was hailed as a “sublime distilling of Southern grit” by NPR Music. For her follow-up Violets as Camouflage, she reached even deeper, bared her soul, and opened herself up more than ever before. The result earned overwhelming praise from Rolling Stone, Billboard, Nashville Scene, American Songwriter, PopMatters, No Depression, and NPR Music who chose it as one of the 10 Best Albums of March 2019, raving “Her clear, warm alto, reminiscent of Patsy Cline, was made for confidences, and these gorgeously crafted and executed songs touch the listener on a deep level, where insight occurs.”
Tour Dates:
12/03 – Nashville, TN @ The Bluebird Cafe
12/04 – Asheville, NC @ Isis Music Hall
12/05 – Duluth, GA @ Eddie Owen Presents
01/14 – South Walton Beach, FL @ 30A Songwriters Festival
01/15 – South Walton Beach, FL @ 30A Songwriters Festival
02/24 – Kansas City, MO @ Folk Alliance International
03/16 – Portland, ME @ One Longfellow Square
03/17 – Exeter, NH @ The Word Barn
