Mary Scholz

I don’t always get chills when I find a new artist, but I absolutely did with Mary Scholz. There’s a purity in her performance that only comes along once in a while. The clarity in the composition is evident, allowing Scholz’s vocal to cut through the sound. It’s romantic and envigorating, truly a treat of a pop folk song. - Ear to the Ground Music Blog

I have been following Mary's career since I met her years ago... She's just one of those spiritually beautiful people that radiates calm. And I'm sure any of her followers can agree that her videos to her fans are all super positive and kind. And more importantly without TRYING to be that way.

...what I saw last night was magic. It was 100% Flawless. Even the one mess up was handled with such an amazing amount of grace and came off super natural. I want to bottle her energy up and feed it to other artists that fall short.

So while she is a total bad ass, I need to switch my focus to Zachary Ross because I feel him becoming a part her life and adding his sound to her songs has had a tremendous effect. I am IN LOVE with this man. I think I took more pictures of him. His emotional state on stage was every bit as on point as hers, and his playing on top of his guitar tone was heavenly. I'm partial to that fender vibe delay swell thing. And his sound was everything I've ever loved about that sort of tone.

From the git go I always thought there was something special about Mary in that talented star quality kind of way. ...I don't know Mary all that well, and I never met Zachary but I'm sure they are the type of people you'd want to find yourself sitting around a firepit with for hours.

Stunning! Congrats Mary on your new album California! And on your partnership with Zachary. - Leeland McCartney

I am so glad I decided to join t unusually large crowd Sunday night to see Mary Scholz at the Hotel Café. I had heard her single, “Bridges We Burn”, and knew she had released a new album, The Girl You thought You Knew, but otherwise I did not know her music. Her clear, bell-like voice, her confidence on stage, her honest lyrics and her intimate introspection all combined to make her performance a joy.

No artifice, no nervousness, no hesitation – Mary Scholz is in her element on stage When she turns that wicked-brilliant smile on the room, framed by her trademark long feather earrings, she can make you and each person in the audience, whether friend or soon-to-be-friend, relax into what seems like a personal relationship. Hotel Café Sunday night felt like I was at a house concert at my house and I was lucky enough to have a dark-haired, ringlet-crowned angel singing in my living room.

Best of all, this angel gifted us with 11 songs, many from her new album, starting with the eerily beautiful “A Mournful Noise” which set the stage – her fans knew they would not be disappointed. She continued to fulfill her promise by belting out “The Girl You Thought You Knew”, the title track of the new album, giving it all she had.

Moving through “I Can’t Tell You Why”, Mary paused, gave us a chance to catch our emotional breath and then broke our hearts with “Bridges We Burn”. No matter how many times I hear them, the lines Where is my life /Tell me where did it go /I saw for a moment the way it could shine /Then I lost all control will always bring back memories and put a lump in my throat. Mary’s vocals which can range from soft and plaintive to powerful and urgent moved from a loving massage to an emotional hypodermic. But, regardless of the key or the volume or the range when she sang, it is always simply herself – honest and just there. It was remarkable.

She broke the “Bridges” spell and brought us back to the Hotel Cafe with banter – stories from the road and a grateful thank you to everyone who had shared their homes with her on her recent tour, and then picked us up with the high tempo “Run Baby Run”. But the short break was over as she melted into the so potent, so personal “Someone Else’s Wife” and then the deep imagery of “In My Bed”.

The room went quiet when she dropped her amazing voice an octave to slide into “Bed”, seducing us to listen and visualize. As her smoky voice rose with yearning, singing I wanna know the way you whisper /And the way that you move /I wanna feel you inside /I wanna know that it’s not just /Inside of my mind, a palpable eroticism drifted like tendrils of fog through the room.

For “Leave Some Light”, she put down the guitar and sat quietly on center stage with her partner on the guitar. He started the song and sang the chorus while Mary exploded into the verses with a powerful, soaring voice pitched to the upper range. While we caught our breath, she quietly moved to the piano and performed what I think was the best song of the night, “One More Day”.

With vocal control so precise a listener would not be aware of it, she begged us toGive me one more day/Give me one more way to feel the pain I’m in/Then you’re free to walk away . The power and emotion Mary pulled out of the piano and the lyrics, born of 7 years of touring and writing, held us spellbound. We could have stopped there.

But Mary wasn’t done with us. Her friend and traveling partner, Sara Ault, took Mary’s place at the piano, a contrast in a blood-red full length gown to Mary’s simple short black dress and black textured stockings, and launched into the high-energy “Radioactive” to the delight of the crowd. Mary then wrapped the night with the ambiguously introspective “Carry On”, telling us But that just keeps me hanging on /And keeps me singing another song. We hope so.

Patrick O’Heffernan - Vents Magazine

To see Mary Scholz live in concert is to fall in love. It is not just the flashing dark eyes or the crown of black ringlets or the confident, welcoming body language at the microphone. It is the voice and the lyrics – the music that flows from the stage and puts its soft hands on your cheeks, kisses your forehead, your ears, your mouth and becomes your lover. You are taken; you know this woman and her music and you want to spend the rest of your life listening to her.
Her new album, The Girl You Thought You Knew has the same effect. It’s a star-filled Milky Way of music that tightens your stomach, speeds your pulse and captures your heart. The fifteen songs on this album are each crafted and polished and presented as a love offering in a carefully sequenced order that defines her heart and pierces yours. This is not an album to play on shuffle; it s a romance ready to ripen.

Beginning with “A Mournful Noise”, the anguished cry of loss and heartbreak that evokes an image of a siren standing on a hill crying for a lost lover, then shifting to her hit single, the country- twanged “The Bridges We Burn” Mary sets the stage with the lines, “Can I leave/Can I let it go/Can I just walk away from the life we have built. You are forewarned; this is an emotional journey like no other. The pace picks up with a blues-rock tempo title song The Girl She Thought You Knew that unreels the story, pushing your love away with the lyrics, “I’m Sorry baby , but I tried/Sorry for telling you all those lies”. This girl has been places, not all of them good, and you alternately want to take her in your arms and comfort her and scream back at her in anger.
The album was released in February, but I waited until now to review it so I could se her live and talk with her on Music Friday Live!. I am glad I did, because it gave me her backstory and a glimpse of her personal power.

For me, two songs on the album close the deal: In My Bed spills out a woman’s needs – complex, erotic, urgent but romantic. She sings directly to me, the listener, “I want to feel you inside/I want to know its not just inside of my mind/Pull me closer to you baby”. Man, woman, young, old – it doesn’t matter, you want to pull her close, to feel that soft crystalline voice inside you.
But elsewhere in the album, she tells you that you can’t feel her inside because she is “Someone Else’s Wife”, to my mind the most powerful song on the album. Drawn from her young marriage and divorce, “Someone Else’s Wife” pulls you close to her heart, but never her body. The conflict that love can bring is laid out bare before you with the catch of tears in her voice. For those who have been there, it surfaces feelings long ago buried; for those who have not, it is a vicarious experience both sweet and bitter.

The love and anger and ache that builds up through the album – a chronicle of the love, anger and ache that we have all felt as we have fallen in and out of love– melts away in this song as she gives you a window into the heart of a young woman’s dilemma, a window so clear even a man can see the feeling on the other side.

Mary Scholz’s album The Girl You Thought You Knew is a romance of powerful feeling – regret, sadness, love, sex, independence and strength – all delivered in an angelic voice and heartrending lyrics. Listen to it all the way through and you will fall in love. I did. - Music Junkie Press

Pennsylvania born, LA based singer/songwriter Mary Scholz is releasing her first full length album today and it’s a gem. Scholz has been compared to the likes of legendary songbird Carole King and it’s easy to see why on songs such as “Bridges We Burn”, with lyrics we can all relate to one way or another: “Where is my life, tell me where did it go; I saw for a moment the way it could shine then I lost all control.”

Scholz plays guitar and piano on every track and also includes some unexpected nuances, including the crackle of a fireplace on the first track “Carry On” and a xylophone at the beginning of “Till I Die”. Most of the tracks are soulful and heartbreakingly sad, but sprinkled above are some fun, light songs that would be fabulous to listen to on the radio cruising down Route 66. “Run Baby, Run” has a toe-tapping beat and witty lyrics that will keep you pressing repeat and swigging that sweet tea as you head on down the highway. So as you ease on down the road, pick up this album and enjoy the sun.

Rating: BadAss - That Music Mag

Singer/songwriter Mary Scholz has been a staple on the live circuit, performing across the U.S. and internationally for the past seven years. She released three EPs and a live album prior to this, her first full-length release entitled "The Girl You Thought You Knew." She has honed her skills on the road and has put that experience to good use on this album, beginning with the two-minute harmonizing warm-up of "A Mournful Noise." Her gentle, inviting voice takes center stage on the slow-moving "Bridges We Burn," before showing off her country side on "Beautiful Tortured Mess." Her voice just floats along on the airiness of "One More Day" and shows a little bit of attitude on the country rocker "Til I Die." The album finishes up with the Jewel-sounding "Beautiful Girl (Live My Life)" and the acoustic folk/rock of "In My Bed."

Mary Scholz is currently in tour in support of her new album, "The Girl You Thought You Knew." To find out more, please visit maryscholz.com. - JPs Music Blog

Sharing her insights on the Los Angeles music scene from her distinctly clear perspective, revealing her hope and belief in the resurgence of the singer/songwriter, Mary Scholz today provides an enlightening, powerfully profound, poignant, vision of what hope is, of what change is, of how in life a challenge can become an opportunity. Mary's profound words of wisdom (to coin a phrase) carry a beauty of sound. Her eloquent answers are here. They carry an enticing songwriter's alliterative rhythm and show a rare level of personal connection (contact info below), of emotional intelligence/awareness and continuous ability for growth. - The Examiner

Mary's guitar, vocal and songwriting abilities all come together instantly as one. With a charming, sweet personality and a sturdy confidence, Mary does not miss a note.
- The Examiner

Mary's guitar, vocal and songwriting abilities all come together instantly as one. With a charming, sweet personality and a sturdy confidence, Mary does not miss a note.
- The Examiner

"First up is Mary Scholz, with a blend of country and pop music which left us guessing which held the 51 percentile in the mix … either way you crack it, her song, “Into The Background” frames this talented young artist in a picture-perfect border of equal parts energy and style." - Brian Ball - Women's Radio.com

"Singing in church growing up, this blogger can't help but wonder if she was ever mistaken for an angel. SCHOLZ has a soft, yet very crisp, vocal range unlike any that I've ever heard. Reminiscent of Carole King, she delivers her music with a vibrant innocence that draws one in and holds a listener almost hostage in a melodic trance."
- Danny Coleman (excerpt) - Chorus and Verse - Danny Coleman