Dr. Mary Crowell lives with her husband, Wesley, and their son, Simon, in Athens, Alabama. She has taught piano and composition for twenty-two years. As a resident of north Alabama, she teaches music classes at Calhoun Community College in Decatur, Alabama and maintains a private studio of piano, composition, and theory students. She loves playing Rachmaninov, Chopin, Gershwin, Bach and jazz standards; practicing yoga, gardening; and gaming with good friends.
Mary Crowell has a B.A. in piano performance from Huntingdon College, M.M. in musicology from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, and a D.M.A. in music composition — also from the University of Alabama. While acquiring these degrees she accompanied ballet classes (and still twitches when she hears “Let’s go. Five, six, se-ven, eight!”), helped organize receptions and run concerts as a house manager, graded many music appreciation and history papers, and taught freshmen music theory, ear training, and sight singing.
She also snuck around and performed jazz whenever her teachers weren’t looking.
Mary was introduced to filk music by Karen Murphy and John Brewer who paid her way and drove her to her first filk convention — GaFilk 2001. And now people cannot keep her away with sticks. She’s written several torchy songs (Magnus Retail, and Oh Milo); blues songs (Legolas and Page Not Found Blues); and some that defy description (The Song Will Tell Me True). She enjoys making lead sheets for the GaFilk Songbook and is having a good time learning the ins and outs of the latest incarnation of Finale.
Mary has played concerts at Confluence 2003, TorCon 2003, GAFilk 2004 (as toastmistress) and Noreascon Four, Interaction 2005, Conchord 2005 (with Three Weird Sisters as guest of honor), Capricon 26 (as music Guest of Honor), Concertino 2006 (as toastmistress), and OVFF 22 (as GOH), and MARCON (with Three Weird Sisters as guests of honor) and ARCHON 2007 in Bardic Concerts with Tom Smith, Blind Lemming Chiffon, and Gary Ehrlich, Consonance 2008 (toastmistress), and Balticon 2009 (as music guest of honor).
In 2010 Mary Crowell was music guest of honor at Boskone 47 and played concerts at both CONSONANCE and MARCON. Also 2010 marked the first year Play It With Moxie, GAFilk’s house band, played a venue outside of GAFilk (Anachrocon 2.)
In August, 2004, Mary accepted the invitation to join Three Weird Sisters. She is music director of Atlanta based jazz band, Play It With Moxie, playing keyboard, vocals, clarinet, and bass clarinet. Recently, she has begun playing local gigs with Teresa Powell. as the duo, Birds of a Feather.
Mary’s song, “When I Grow Up” was nominated for a Pegasus Award in the category Best Comic Book Song in 2004. Her song, “Legolas” was nominated in the category Best Torch Song in 2006. In 2006, 2007, and 2009 Mary was nominated for Pegasus awards in the category Best Writer/ Composer. She has been nominated several times for a Pegasus Award in the category, Best Performer — 2003, 2004 and 2005 and again in 2007 when she won, tying with Seanan McGuire for the award!
In 2010, “Magnus Retail” was nominated for a Pegasus Award in category Best Magic Song. Also in 2010, Play It With Moxie has been nominated for a Pegasus Award in the category, Best Performer.
Poison Ivy, her octet for flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, french horn, trumpet, and trombone was performed at the UAH Local Composers Concert in March of 2004. Mary gigs in Athens, Alabama at downtown bookstores and garden markets as well as performing with the various bands in the greater Atlanta area.
Mary has finished recording Courting My Muse, her solo CD with Greg Robert. Courting My Muse is available through various filk dealers, Amazon.com, and CDBaby.com. It is also available at Pablos on Market, a delightful bookstore and coffee shop on the square in Athens, Alabama!
Upcoming projects include Third Thyme’s the Charm, a Three Weird Sisters album; and a Play It With Moxie, Live! album. She is also putting together a playlist for a second solo album. Its working title is Acolytes of the Machine after Mary’s song of the same name.
