(Session originally published in January, 2018)

You know, songwriters, the really good ones, have this ability to twist a phrase or choose a word that somehow is exactly right. It's a real gift. But the truth is - everyone, songwriter or not, has a story to share. Not all of us, however, know how to share it.

The desire to discover the stories we don't normally get to hear is what inspired Mary Gauthier to start working alongside combat veterans and the SongwritingWith:Soldiers organization a few years back. "We listen to their stories," she says, "And we turn their experiences into songs...We take an experience and turn it into something tangible, something that people everywhere can empathize with."

It's an extraordinary project that's turned into a new album for Gauthier, 'Rifles and Rosary Beads,' and she shared a little bit about this remarkable group and the men and women who participate during her exclusive Folk Alley Session with us at this year's 30A Songwriters Festival in Florida.