Speaker Session: Mary Munsey, Connections between Songwriting and Visual Art

Date: Tuesday, April 8, 2025

Time: 7 p.m. ET

Location: In-person at the Birthplace of Country Music, Performance Theatre and streamed on Radio Bristol’s YouTube Channel

Cost: Free and open to the public

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Join us on Tuesday, April 8, 2025 for our Speaker Session with Mary Munsey.

For the last year, Mary Munsey’s motto has been: “If your song is well written it should paint a picture in the listener’s mind. If not, keep working on it.” And with that motto, she decided to see if some of her songs fit this tall requirement by working with several area artists to explore their interpretation of her songs in a visual format. Each artist rose to the occasion, interpreting and creating what they saw (or didn’t see) in the music and lyrics, while also helping Mary to identify the different ways people aurally process songs. With this Speaker Session, Mary shares how this artistic challenge worked, what she learned, and how it revealed the connections between music and art.

Mary Munsey received her B.A. in music education from Emory & Henry and her master’s in music from James Madison University. She has been an elementary, middle, and high school choral director for 18 years, and she has just retired after 13 years as director of the music department at VHCC (Virginia Highlands Community College).

She has had a wide and varied career in music performance, including as a bassoonist in symphonies, bass, mandolin, and guitar playing in acoustic groups, and singing and playing saxophone and keyboard in many Tri-Cities area bands, including Samantha Gray and the Jukebox Jam Band. Mary has been writing and performing music for many years locally and nationally including multiple performances at the Bluebird Café in Nashville, The Carter Fold, Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion, and bluegrass festivals like Ralph Stanley’s Festival in Coeburn, Va.

Mary has been widely honored for her original songs and musical work, including winning the 2010 Woody Guthrie International Folk Songwriting Contest for her song “Nine Days Old” and placing 2nd in the International Bluegrass Music Association’s lesson plan contests in 2009 and 2010. In 2011 she had songs place in songwriter competitions in Texas, Wisconsin, and Connecticut, including a 2nd place recognition for her song “This Side of The Wall” at the Podunk Bluegrass Festival. Her song “Eight Lives to Spare” was a winner in the Smoky Mountain Songwriting Competition in 2019, and she has placed twice in the Gathering in the Gap Festival. She has also presented several songwriting workshops for the Virginia Highlands Festival, and she facilitates regional Songwriters of the Highlands Appalachia groups, including the new Songwriters Circle program on the second Saturday of each month at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum.

Her CD Nine Days Old includes heartfelt material and songs that display her off-beat sense of humor. Reflections, released in 2013 includes instrumentals, country, bluegrass, blues, and pop. Shades of Refinements released in 2015 features original jazz and blues. This recording displays her joy of playing saxophone and keyboard as well as songwriting. She is currently working on another CD of originals.