Over the years there have been dozens, if not hundreds, of songs extolling the exploits or challenges of soldiers, but, until recently, virtually none using the words of soldiers themselves. One person who changed that was the Austin, Texas musician Darden Smith, who founded an organization called Songwriting With Soldiers. Mary Gauthier, the Louisiana-born, Nashville-based singer-songwriter, was introduced to the program by Darrell Scott, and the result is a critically-acclaimed, once-in-a-generation album, Rifles & Rosary Beads.
