by: Greg Haymes (section: Preview; page: P6)

As half of the acoustic folk-pop duo John and Mary, vocalist-violinist Mary Ramsey was a regular on the Northeast small-club circuit in the early '90s, making frequent stops at such Capital Region venues as QE2 and Bogie's.

But life changed dramatically for Ramsey three years ago when she and her musical partner, vocalist-guitarist John Lombardo, signed on as the new members of the chart-topping pop band 10,000 Maniacs, in the wake of the departure of the group's lead vocalist Natalie Merchant to pursue a solo career.

"John and I sort of saw ourselves as cousins of the band," Ramsey said last week during a telephone interview from her apartment in Buffalo. "We had toured with them before and were always very close. In 1994, I went to Europe with them to tour in support of their MTV Unplugged album.

"When I returned, John suggested we go down and jam with the band. It felt really natural, and we all thought, 'Let's go for it.' Our playing together took off, and it's been going ever since."

For Lombardo, stepping into the 10,000 Maniacs lineup was like a homecoming. After all, he was a charter member of the band when it first formed back in Jamestown in 1981, but he left the fold five years later, just before the Maniacs achieved pop-star status with their break-through album, In My Tribe, and a U.S. tour with R.E.M.

For Ramsey, however, it was a different story. Suddenly, she found herself taking over the microphone as lead vocalist on the Maniacs' latest album, Love Among the Ruins, and the band's subsequent world tour.

"When I joined up, it didn't really, really hit me how big this whole thing was -- especially the whole Natalie Merchant stigma," Ramsey reveals. Merchant was the acknowledged star of 10,000 Maniacs, and many of the band's die-hard followers felt that she simply couldn't be replaced.

"I mean, I'm not totally naive and silly, but it really was a whole new adventure for me once the new Maniacs album came out.

"It's been very, very positive in terms of the audiences' responses, and we've been doing encores at every show. That's nice, very nice.

"But the press has been very intense for me. They just ask the same question over and over again. What's it like to fill her shoes? If I had a nickel for every time that I've been asked that question . . . ," she says, as her voice trails off in frustration.

The harsh glare of the spotlight was something new to Ramsey.

"I guess I wasn't quite prepared for the degree of intrusion of the press," she admits. "It's kind of like being the second wife, or something like that. It takes a while for people -- even friends -- to get used to it.

"But in the past year, the real interesting thing for me has been watching the skepticism turn into support," she points out, "and watching people -- both fans and press -- enjoy my contributions to the band for what they are, on their own merit."

While Love Among the Ruins wasn't an overwhelming commercial success, it certainly wasn't an embarrassing failure, either. The first single, a remake of Bryan Ferry's More Than This, spent four months on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 chart. And the new single, Rainy Day, continues to garner some impressive radio air play.

"I'm happy with the way the album came out," Ramsey insists. "And worldwide, we've sold about 300,000 copies. Personally, I'm pretty happy with that. The powers that be may not be as happy because it seems that everybody at all the record companies want your first-born whenever you put out an album."

Currently, 10,000 Maniacs are taking a short break from touring before they head into the studio to start work on their next album. "We had started touring even before the album came out last June," Ramsey explains, "and the rest of the guys in the band wanted to take a break for a while to spend some time with their families and their kids."

But Ramsey and Lombardo are taking advantage of the band's downtime to go out and do some acoustic duo shows like they used to do, and the John and Mary twosome will be making a stop at Valentine's in Albany on Saturday night.

"It's fun to go back and do our own thing, and we both really love it," Ramsey says enthusiastically. "We'll be playing More Than This as well as some 10,000 Maniacs songs that we wrote, and, of course, the tunes from the John and Mary albums (1991's Victory Gardens and 1993's The Weedkiller's Daughter). And some of our favorite old folk songs, too."

As John and Mary, the duo isn't playing the big rock venues that they perform in as 10,000 Maniacs, but Ramsey finds the more intimate club situations just as rewarding as theaters.

"When I was thrown into this position with 10,000 Maniacs, it helped me to realize why I really love music and what it's all about," she says thoughtfully. "And for me, it's really not about money. On the monetary level, John and I at least certainly haven't hit the gold mine, but on another level, we've both come to the realization that music is just so much a part of our lives that we'll always keep playing, whether it's little coffeehouses or grandmothers' birthday parties or friends' weddings or whatever.