On A Higher and Happier Frequency
Mary Spear is on a higher and happier frequency
Mary Spear was raised in Carroll, Iowa. At fourteen, she was listening to recordings of Joni Mitchell, Pete Seeger, and Bob Dylan and started playing the guitar. She was very musical in high school, also learning to play the flute and piano. While in high school, she attended summer music programs at the University of Vermont. When she was fifteen, Mary began performing in coffee houses on Lake Okoboji in Iowa, which had numerous dinner clubs and tea houses.
She saw the Grateful Dead in 1971 while attending the University of Northern Iowa and it opened up a whole new world of truth and inspiration. While driving back home to Cedar Falls that night, there was a Northern Lights show that sealed the experience.
Mary moved to Wisconsin and played with the seven-piece Wisconsin River Song band. Dennis O’Bryan had a studio in Madison, Wisconsin and built a custom 12 string guitar that perfectly matched to her voice. 
They played festivals along the Northern Tier states. Several in her band also played Key West in the winter. Mary said they were “the smart ones.” In 1977, she packed her personal belongings, including her twelve-string guitar, and along with several band members, they headed south in her 1972 Dodge van for the winter. She lost her mirror on the very narrow old 7 Mile Bridge
Her first gigs in Key West were at Las Palmas (now Cafe Sole), Amy’s, Casa Marina, and on the Schooner Diamante (before it moved on land and became Schooner Wharf). Her band mates from Wisconsin moved on to Hawaii but Mary stayed in Key West and, except for a short time period, she has been in Key West ever since.
Her special gigs were with Grateful Dead cover bands playing at Barefoot Bob’s on Duval Street (now Willie T’s). The proprietor, and her good friend Barefoot Bob, passed away in the late 80s. About ten years later, Mary was performing at Viva Zapata’s on Duval Street which had recently reopened after being abandoned for over ten years and was considered to be seriously haunted. One evening ghost hunter David Sloan and Gary Ek were trying to communicated with spirits upstairs. They connected with a spirit one night that was reportedly Barefoot Bob who told Mary that he “loved her” from the other side.
Mary’s daughter, Natalie Wood, was born in January 1985. Natalie was raised in Key West, graduating from Key West High School, and now runs her own floral design. Today, Natalie McIntyre is married and has given Mary three beautiful grandchildren. Mary has had a significant other, George Panagokos, almost 30 years. Born in Greece, he lives in Canada for six months and with Mary in Key West for six months.
She remembers performing with the Bohemian Swingers band from Tampa in the late 80s. Ten musicians arrived in a bus to perform at the Green Parrot and parked behind the Parrot. The bus illegally parked and was towed away so Mary had to put up 10 musicians in her tiny house, sleeping in hammocks and on tiny pallets all over the place. The Bohemian Swingers never returned to Key West.
Mary has performed at Blue Heaven since it opened in the early 1990s, with a steady gig there for over thirty years – approaching a Key West record. Some of Mary’s biggest fans are the members of Jimmy Buffett’s Coral Reefer band. When in Key West, they would always make sure that Mary was playing when they visited Blue Heaven.
Currently, Mary performs at the Artisan Market, Gardens Hotel, and often at the Old Stone Church. She has performed in Tampa periodically with Uncle John’s Band, a Grateful Dead tribute band. With her eclectic wardrobe, striking hats, and her sweet voice, Mary was highlighted many times at the former Green Parrot Sunday Jazz Jam, for over ten years.
Like many artists, Mary performed streaming music online during the COVID pandemic. She focused on changing habits – eating better and getting healthier. Mary says the result is she’s “half my size, twice as good, and ready to play more”. 
Mary is currently de-aging with a combination of healthy eating and a change in philosophy resulting in a “71-year-old with a 55-year-old body”. Her secrets include soups and salads with special greens from Bonnie Briscoe-Blacklock of The Good Food Conspiracy and Grimal Grove produce from Big Pine Key.
Lately, Mary has rediscovered jazz covering many more Diana Krall tunes. She’s also reaching back for some old Linda Ronstadt and Joni Mitchell songs. Mary says, “When all else fails, I play Dead” … Grateful Dead.
According to Mary, people are vibrating at different frequencies – some are going on a higher and happier frequency while others are going on a much lower and much sadder frequency. Mary doesn’t fit into any category and that’s the way she likes it. After 48 years, Mary is happy to call Key West home. In a 2017 Music Scene article, Bucky Montgomery said, “Mary Spear is a Key West icon who never loses her sense of optimism. The hippie chick, folk singer with an angel’s voice, has a lesson for us all: “The world is better at peace.”
There are no comments yet, add one below.
Leave a Reply