About Mary

Mary Bue is a songwriter,  international retreat guide, and yoga teacher based out of Minneapolis, often roaming this beautiful world. Named Best Songwriter of 2020 by City Pages, her music touches upon archetypal themes of the human condition: love, loss, survival, dreams,  and the natural world. A longtime student of yoga and psychology, Mary weaves sacred subject matter into her songs, seeking of deeper levels of consciousness, and concern for the environment mixed into oft-crass, real-world hue.  Mary is currently working on her 9th album The Wildness of Living and Dying to be released in early 2025.

The collection of songs in The Wildness contemplate issues of trauma, uncertainty, compassion, and healing with music.  They were composed in the years surrounding a traumatic carjacking experience in late 2020 and express strength in vulnerability, resilience of the human spirit,  the growth experienced within a cycle of destruction, and, ultimately,  transformation. 

Prolific,  lyrical, and gritty,  Mary’s performances are warm and laced with quirky humor and stories of her adventures (and misadventures).  A survivor and advocate,  Mary is often invited to perform and speak about her healing process surrounding #MeToo of which she shares in her song “Petty Misdemeanor” (The Majesty of Beasts, 2017).

Not one to bow to popular music trends, Mary has stayed true to her own sound, evolving and about to emerge, butterfly-like, with support from her band collaboration The Monarchy (a nod to to the Monarch butterflies species) feat. Steve Price, Jeremy Ylvisaker, Richard Medek, Shannon Frid-Rubin, Julia Floberg.

2020’s The World is Your Lover – produced by the Suburbs’ Steve Price – is a synthesis of her releases of the past 20+ years, merging pianos and guitars, spiritual longing, and real-world sorrow. Her previous albums achingly express life in melancholy piano-poems, yet in 2015 Mary risked a genre switch to aggressive electric guitars, concise lyricism, and a nod to 90’s grunge.

In January 2020, Mary traveled to Rishikesh, India at the base of the Himalaya (where the Beatles & Donovan studied with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi) to further her yogic studies (certified instructor since 2009).  She attended Nada Yoga School to study Nada Yoga – the Yoga of Sound. Sanskrit mantras, lessons in harmonium, voice, and sitar, yoga asana, pranayama, meditation, and purification techniques were practiced to invite a pure vessel for deeper experiencing & creation of sound.

An accomplished recording artist and touring musician, Mary’s studio albums manage to capture her electrifying stage presence. Mary’s last four albums were 100% fan-funded via Kickstarter. She has been awarded multiple Artist Residencies including The Helene Wurlitzer Foundation of New Mexico ~ Taos, NM,  “Escape to Create” Artist in Residence at The Seaside Institute in Seaside, FL, and Big Cypress Nature Preserve Artist in Residence in Ochopee, FL. Over many years, 40+ states, hundreds of thousands of miles and countless venues from tiny coffee shops to large outdoor festivals, Mary has shared the stage with many talented musicians, including Shawn Colvin,  Low,  Cloud Cult, The Suburbs,  Charlie Parr, Erin McKeown, Johnette Napolitano (Concrete Blonde), Emm Gryner, Kathleen Edwards, Marissa Nadler, Rose Polenzani, Jess Klein, Sarah Borges, Mason Jennings, HALEY, Jack Johnson, Vetiver, Cory Chisel, Nicole Atkins, Jeremy Messersmith, Anaïs Mitchell, Audra Kubat, Vandaveer, Chris Bathgate, Chris Trapper and more. 

YOGA & RETREATS:

Mary Bue is a registered yoga teacher (e-RYT 500) with a foundation in the Viniyoga tradition,  a breath-centered, flowing practice that believes in adapting postures to fit the whole person.  Mary received her certification at Whole Life Yoga in Seattle, WA by Tracy Weber, (student of Gary Kraftsow,  student of T.K.V. Desikachar) and her 300 hour from Yoga Center Retreat (formerly Yoga Center of Minneapolis).  In 2020,  Mary received an additional 200 hour certificate in Nada Yoga (the Yoga of Sound) from Nada Yoga School in Rishikesh India.

Mary has pursued continuing yoga education in prenatal yoga,  yoga for anxiety & depression,  pranayama, and 30 hour certification in Trauma-informed Yoga with Firefly Yoga International. Mary was a teaching assistant for Whole Life Yoga’s ten month long, 200 hour teacher training in 2010 and has also assisted in WLY’s “Yoga for Healthy Backs” Series.  She has her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology with an emphasis on Transpersonal Psychology from the University of Minnesota – Duluth. Mary has also received volunteer training in sexual assault victim advocacy from PAVSA and domestic violence victim support from DAIP. She founded and ran Imbue Yoga Studio in S. Mpls for nearly 3 years (closing Jan. 2019).

As a wanderer-luster and experience junkie,  she has worked in many types of jobs: as a clinical research assistant in a prison & hospital,  an AIDS prevention outreach worker on the streets and harm reduction work in needle exchanges, as well as many hundreds of hours as a server,  bartender and barista.

All of these experiences culminate in the guiding of Creativity and Yoga Retreats.  Mary has led and co-led retreats in Northern Minnesota,  Wisconsin,  New Mexico, Bali,  Malta,  Ireland,  and Italy.

Mary is an avid runner (10 half marathons and two full marathons),  nature lover and vegan.  In her spare time, she enjoys playing music,  cooking,  writing blogs, poetry and in journals,  painting cow portraits,  reading non-fiction and traveling.