Awards
2019-Inducted into Colorado Music Hall of Fame (w/the Mother Folkers)
2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2014, 2011 Cascade Blues Assn. Terry Robb Muddy Award for “Acoustic Guitar”
2018-Cascade Blues Assn. Hall of Fame inductee
2016-Blues Music Award Nominee for Ragpicker String Band
2016-Downbeat: Ragpicker String Band one of the best albums of ’15
2014-Downbeat: “When My Bluebird Sings” one of the best albums of the year
2014-Cascade Blues Assn. Muddy Award for “Northwest Blues Event of the Year”
2012-Blues Music Award Nominee
2012-Downbeat: “Misery Loves Company” named one of the best albums of the year
2010-9th Annual Independent Music Awards, Vox Populi Award for “Acoustic Song of the Year”
2009, 2010, Cascade Blues Assn. Muddy Award Nominee for “Acoustic Guitar”
2010– 9th Annual Independent Music Awards winner for best “Acoustic Song of the Year”
2008– Blues Music Award Nominee for Acoustic Artist of the Year
2000 and 2003- Placed 3rd at National Fingerpicking Guitar Championship
1990– Fellowship award from Colorado Council on the Arts and Humanities
Quotes
Misery Loves Company
Vintage Guitar:
Plays the blues with the soul and wit they were created to be played with… shows an intimacy with the music that’s felt by few.
Downbeat:
Superlative…such a high level of proficiency that your heart will beat faster and your blood race. One of the Top 10 roots albums of 2011, no question about it. (4 stars)
Acoustic Guitar:
There are few musicians in the genre bringing as much creative spark and low-key mojo to this century-old music…
Living Blues:
Marries acoustic blues with touches of ragtime, folk, and jazz… the interplay is always interesting, often provocative, and sometimes breathtaking.
Blues in Britain:
One of the world’s finest purveyors of traditional blues…pure quality.
Blues Bytes:
A stripped-down affair that really brings Flower’s talents, incredible technique and interpretive skills to the forefront…one of the best guitarists currently performing.
Top 21:
Finger-picking guitar mastery that must be heard by everyone…One of the best albums of the year.
Folk and Acoustic Music Exchange:
There’s a consummate melodiousness to Flower’s work… she’s like the Joni Mitchell of the blues: everything the woman does turns to beauty.
The Good Music Fox:
A very rare kind of artist… for those of you craving some real musicianship in a crowd of amateurs, Mary Flower’s music will make your day.
Rambles:
Exquisite guitar style… done in these hands, it is a thing of beauty and a cause for joy.
bluesinthenorthwest.com:
Sublime… simple yet thoroughly convincing essential roots album that is pure class from start to finish.
FolkWorld:
A masterpiece of acoustic guitar music… a breathtaking musical journey.
Jazz & Blues Report:
Delights blues and roots fans with a recording that continues to demonstrate that she remains one of the finest fingerstyle guitarists.
Blues Blast:
Flower shines as a torchbearer of traditional music…
About.com
Sits comfortably in that sweet spot where folk and blues music intersects… a solid collection of elegant acoustic blues, jazz, and roots music.
Midwest Record Recap:
If this was the 70s, this is what you would probably be listening to after you first discovered John Fahey or John Renbourn and bugged the record store clerk to show you what was lingering in the back room…
Delta-Slider:
Impeccable fingerstyling… incorporates folk, blues, and ragtime elements seamlessly.
Cascade Blues Association
Masterful skills at finger-picking and lap slide guitars… world-class.
Oliver di Place:
The best measure of her enormous talent is that she makes this combination sound completely natural, even though I’ve never heard anyone do it before…
Willamette Week:
Her appearance belies a superhuman ability to turn her hands into hyperactive blues finger-picking machines…
Oregon Music News:
She’s been one of the top Blues guitarists and singers in America for quite a while…
WLRH / WJAB:
Manages to make the complex sound effortless… She’s a very special artist.
Mountain Stage:
Her “Grand Marais Blues” w/ Pat Donohue is priceless…
MPR News:
An expert at finger picking on guitar…
The Oregonian:
Hits a confident stride…
KPLU:
Top 10 blues CDs of 2011: A gentle and moody record that features her warm voice and acoustic guitar… one of the best roots/blues guitarists around.
Taproot Radio
Turns the “beautiful knob” up to eleven and creates blues that stands on its own as a work of art…
Bridges
Exquisite fingerpicking and expressive slide guitar… embraces a gentle brand of blues that captures the warmth and power that come from simplicity.
— Blues Revue 6/1/2009 Michael Cote
One of the finest fingerstyle guitarists alive… another enchanting recording by a marvelous acoustic blues artist.
— Jazz & Blues Report 4/1/2009 Ron Weinstock
Incredibly musical and soul-satisfying… yet again a wonderful CD by this under-appreciated living folk and blues legend in the making.
— JazzReview 8/1/2009 Thomas R. Erdmann
With her knockout, bass-string snapping, string-bending, ascending-up-the-neck
passages and delicate fingers dancing merrily across the strings, Mary
Flower bridges to amazing.
— Colorado Blues Society 6/1/2009 Dan Willging
Bywater Dance
Unfailingly sweet, hot and sassy — every track on this album has something about it that will give you shivers… This is one of the most satisfying albums
of the year.
— All Music Guide 10/22/2005 Rick Anderson
A luscious lusty mix of rootsy styles, anchored by Flower’s immense finger-style guitar technique and warm-as-honey-and-whiskey voice. Her meter-perfect guitar work is inventive, dexterous and rock solid. Her voice is as comforting as a winter quilt and effortless as a breeze.
— The Oregonian 11/7/2008 Don Campbell
Flower, a world-class fingerstyle and lap-slide guitarist, weighs in on the close relationship between folk-blues and early jazz.
— Downbeat 3/1/2006 Frank-John Hadley
Exquisite force andhauntingly poignant vocals… while so many of today’s records fade quickly, this is one CD that will always remain a favorite.
— BluesWax 10/12/2005 Art Tipaldi
A standout album of 2005… Mary’s albums have never shied from introducing less
familiar instruments & arrangements, which thankfully livens up our
listening experiences.
— Blues Matters! 11/1/2005 Billy Hutchinson