Mary Lou Lord

Life and career

Mary Lou Lord first gained attention playing acoustic guitar and singing in and around Boston's subway stations (particularly on the Red Line, as noted by the name she chose for her music and lyric publishing company, On the Red Line Music, administered by BMI.)

Lord became friends with Nirvana front man Kurt Cobain in the fall of 1991, before the group's rise to mainstream fame; there has been much speculation on the relationship. In 2010 Lord gave explanation http://www.oedipus1.com/home/?p=203

She met Elliott Smith though Slim Moon, the owner of Kill Rock Stars and her boyfriend at the time. Lord toured three separate times with Smith during the 1990s. Smith also wrote and helped Lord record a song called "I Figured You Out" in 1997.

Lord signed with the Sony subsidiary Work in 1997 and released Got No Shadow in 1998. On December 31, 1998 Lord and Kevin Patey, from the band Raging Teens, had a daughter whom they named Annabelle Lord-Patey.

Her recording of Daniel Johnston's "Speeding Motorcycle" (which originally featured on her self-titled 8-song Kill Rock Stars release) was featured in commercials for Target stores, after which her label reissued the song as the lead-off track of a CD single which also included two demo recordings from the sessions for Got No Shadow.

In 2001, Lord released Live City Sounds. This was a self-released disc of Mary Lou playing live in the Boston subway. The disc was later re-released after Mary Lou signed to Rubric Records.

She announced in 2005 that she suffered from a rare vocal cord affliction known as spasmodic dysphonia. She thereafter became more involved in A&R work and started a new management company with Kevin Patey, Jittery Jack Management.

In 2011, Lord used kickstarter.com to launch a project to record a new album, and in 2012 has begun performing regularly once again.

Cassettes

Albums

EPs and singles

Compilation and soundtrack contributions