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Rifles and Rosary Beads
by
Rifles and Rosary Beads Image
Metascore
92

Universal acclaim - based on 6 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
7.8

Generally favorable reviews- based on 24 Ratings

  • Summary: The latest release from the singer-songwriter co-wrote the collection of songs about the lives of veterans and their families who are a part of the nonprofit, Songwriting with Soldiers.
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  • Record Label: Thirty Tigers
  • Genre(s): Country, Folk, Americana, Pop/Rock, Contemporary Singer/Songwriter, Contemporary Folk
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Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 6
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 6
  3. Negative: 0 out of 6
  1. The Independent (UK)
    Jan 29, 2018
    100
    With Rifles & Rosary Beads, she’s created her most impressive and affecting work yet.
  2. PopMatters
    Jan 29, 2018
    90
    Shut off the social media for an hour, and pay attention to these stories. The co-writers of these poignant and powerful songs have fought in defense of our collective freedom of speech. We should honor them by listening to their stories.
  3. Exclaim
    Jan 29, 2018
    90
    Exquisite. ... Rifles & Rosary Beads offers not only a document of atrocity and neglect, but a chance for redemption and healing.
  4. AllMusic
    Jan 29, 2018
    90
    Rifles and Rosary Beads is unlike any other record. It edifies and empathizes with the experiences of its participants in delivering brutal yet tender truths; it confronts listeners to embrace without judgment the struggle of war survivors, while experientially relating the extended fact that over 7,400 veterans commit suicide each year. Gauthier and her collaborators look into the gaping maw of war, its trauma, isolation, rage, and loneliness, to reveal the human faces and hearts of its witnesses. Popular music can do no more than this.
  5. Mojo
    Feb 27, 2018
    80
    it's uncompromising stuff, but these unsung horrors are unsung no more. [Apr 2018, p.92]
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  6. Magnet
    Apr 17, 2018
    80
    11 somber-yet-empathetic songs on Rifles & Rosary Beads. [No. 150, p.56]
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User Reviews

Write a Review
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 3
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 3
  3. Negative: 0 out of 3
  1. timbob58
    Feb 2, 2018
    10
    A stunning achievement. Gauthier collaborated with veterans and their families on these songs under the auspices of the non-profit Songs forA stunning achievement. Gauthier collaborated with veterans and their families on these songs under the auspices of the non-profit Songs for Soldiers. This might just be an interesting footnote if not for the powerful music and words that have been produced. The artist truly rose to the occasion - the music is an easily accessible and timeless alt-country Americana that one can imagine being performed long after today's hits are forgotten. I am usually ambivalent when it comes to lyrics, being mainly attracted by the music, but here I am riveted by the direct and honest communication of Gauthier's masterful storytelling. "Rifles and Rosary Beads" are songs whose music and message hit you in the gut and the heart.… Expand
  2. jimmypowder
    Feb 3, 2018
    10
    Masterful storytelling that will leave you emotionally involved in each song.
  4. joshuaoehler
    Apr 13, 2018
    9
    Delicate, powerful and moving lyrics combined with correspondingly beautiful music.

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