Mercy Now

Gauthier wrote it alone. In the North Bay Bohemian in 2006 she described the first verse as personal and said the later verses extend mercy outward, to her church and her country. She told Berklee she wanted the song to live outside of time, and that she drew on personal and public sources and then universalized them. On her site she calls it a prayer written while the world around her was collapsing into darkness, which brought catharsis and later peace, a real song that ends in hope. When Rolling Stone listed it among the 40 saddest country songs in 2014, she replied that it is not a sad song but about hope. Her memoir Saved by a Song has a chapter on its drafts and breakthrough.

It is track two at 5:51, with the Mercy Now band at Rootball Studio in Austin. Kathy Mattea, Bobby Bare, Candi Staton and Mike Farris have recorded it, and Farris's Shine for All the People won a Grammy for Best Roots Gospel Album; Boy George also recorded a version she liked. Her official site calls it her most streamed and requested song. Live at Blue Rock carries it as a hidden track. We found no per-song setlist count and do not know whether our upload is the album version.