Mary’s Tears by The Prickly Pair: Review

by Gabe Finch December 1, 2022

December 1, 2022

Mary’s Tears by The Prickly Pair: Review

Nashville’s duo of Irene Green and Mason Summit AKA The Prickly Pair demonstrates incredible storytelling over lush country music with a touch of indie in their latest single, Mary’s Tears.

While storytelling is nothing new in country music, it’s always almost from a man’s perspective telling the story of a man. In this song, the duo tells a story of a small-town girl not taking the midnight train to anywhere– but the story of Mary, a girl who endures male cruelty all her life. She finds refuge in watering a patch of Lilies of the Valley or also known as Mary’s Tears until she couldn’t take it any longer. The buildup of the narrative, the symbolism, and the non-conformity of the female perspective gave the song a solid theme for a perfect murder ballad.

Musically the song the sounds like a lush, cozy country song until you start paying attention to the lyrics. It has all the staples of a great country song- bright warm acoustic guitar, punchy snares, vintage keyboard melodies, slide guitars, autoharp, you name it! It’s Irene’s emotive, expressive vocals that add the storytelling factor to the song. The change in the overall sound in the bridge section is particularly a neat touch that sounded somewhat reminiscent of the band Ghost but it did not out of place at all. Even the theme is fitting, so a homage maybe? Nevertheless, beautiful composition with great storytelling.