The public's appetite for celebrity tales of drug addiction, legal troubles and marital discord is insatiable. Of course, beneath the gossip-page gloss and television glare, real lives are at stake. Singer/songwriter Mary Lou Lord has been battling alcoholism for most of her adult life. It's a disease which crept its way back into the folk singer's career during the last few months. After a successful record (this year's Got No Shadow) and a year of sobriety, Lord found herself slipping back to the bottle while on tour. A month in rehab and a little time to mellow out has given Lord a chance to reflect upon the recent months and come to terms with her past and her promising future. She recently spoke with Rolling Stone Online exclusively about what's been going on in her life.

I know you just got out of rehab last Monday (April 27). What were the circumstances that lead up to you checking yourself in?

I went in on April 2. I have been battling the bottle for a while, and I was sober for about a year and I did really well, and that's when I did my record and I was really productive, and things were cool. And then I went on tour in September, and, unfortunately I didn't make a plan for myself when I went on that tour. I thought I had everything together, and that I'd go to a meeting when I could get to one. And so on my year [anniversary of] sobriety, instead of going to get my cake, I went to the bar at the Paramount in New York.

Because you thought you could handle it after all that sober time?

I was just like, 'what was the reason I don't drink anymore?' And about five months later, I woke up one morning and just couldn't get out of bed. I was supposed to do a show in Boise that night, and I was in New York that day, and I couldn't get up.

You were worn out or depressed?

I was hungover. And I was tired. It was a really hard tour for me. I didn't get any days off. I was out for two-and-a-half months, and I'd never done anything like that before. And so we all just figured, let's just get back on track with the program again. It takes so much strength to do the record, to do the road, to do this kind of life. It just takes so much out of you. Unless you're 100 percent there, you're not gonna make it.

Who did you call when you when you felt yourself slip?

Musician's Assistance Program, the guy who runs it, his name is Buddy Arnold. He calls himself 'the oldest living Jewish junkie,' and he's been sober for something like twenty or thirty years. He was a junkie for like fifty years. He's a jazz musician who's probably about seventy-two. He's no stranger to all of the excuses people will give him as to why they shouldn't go into a program or into rehab. And he's just the best. A lot of musicians don't have [comprehensive] health insurance programs, so MAP gives money to musicians to get into rehab for however long they can. They'll help you out, and Buddy will kick your butt. It's pretty great.

So now, what is your plan?

For the next couple of weeks, I'm kickin' it at home, just hangin' out. I'm catching up on life, returning phone calls, visiting my parents ... that sort of thing.

Are you doing Lilith over the summer?

Yes. I think I'm doing the Midwest part of it. It seems like a really cool bill.

Are you working on some new stuff?

I've got some stuff rolling, and I think I'm gonna take some time off in the fall and maybe go into the studio then.

Are you writing every day?

No. But taking this time, when you slow your life down, and experience your life one day at a time, it's a lot easier to be focused and to write while you're in the moment. Maybe it's just me, but [life on the road] is just not a normal way to live.

Maybe sobering up will give you a newborn sense of lucidity and clarity that you never had before. Like seeing the world for the first time.

Oh, God yeah. Some of my favorite musicians and writers weren't doing shit while they were drinking, and then about three years into their sobriety, they had some sort of epiphany and wrote like mad. I really want that.

HEIDI SHERMAN