Mary Colurso

Mary Colurso is a lifestyle and entertainment reporter at AL.com with more than three decades of experience covering music, television, celebrities, movies, theater, books, fine arts and other popular culture subjects. Her coverage stands out for the way it ties Alabama’s entertainment life to specific people, places and events, mixing deep knowledge of music history with accessible guides to current festivals, pageants and everyday fan culture. She works on the Life & Culture team, writing feature stories, columns, reviews, news pieces and visual galleries that map out how residents experience entertainment across the state.

Live music and Alabama concert history

Colurso devotes substantial attention to live music and its legacy, documenting major shows, performers and promoters that define Alabama’s concert history.

She has assembled extensive lists such as “31 of the greatest concerts in Alabama music history,” curating landmark performances and framing them as part of a broader cultural narrative. Her work includes explorations of archival material, such as a feature on 1970s concert memorabilia from an Alabama promoter that combines historical context with detailed visuals. She creates galleries focused on major music figures with ties to the state, including a look at Lionel Richie “then and now” that connects a global pop and R&B star back to his Alabama roots.

Profiles and photo essays on industry figures like Miles Copeland III further show her interest in the people behind the music business, not just the performers on stage. In previews of contemporary shows, she spotlights touring acts such as rapper NF and tracks their upcoming performances at major arenas, keeping readers informed about current concert opportunities while grounding them in venue and date specifics. Across these pieces, she writes with the authority of a longtime music specialist, using lists, galleries and features to translate decades of concert history into clear entry points for general audiences.

Fairs, festivals and statewide events

Beyond concerts, Colurso builds comprehensive guides to fairs, festivals and marquee cultural events that structure the entertainment calendar. Her coverage of fall fairs and festivals highlights “40 don’t-miss events,” giving readers an overview of where to find food, rides, music and community celebrations throughout the season. She has reported on pageant culture, including detailed coverage of Miss Alabama, where she tracks winners, titles and their affiliations in pieces such as the story on Abbie Stockard, Miss Hoover, taking the crown in 2024.

These event-focused articles often function as planning tools, organizing dates and locations while flagging standout attractions or notable participants. The same sensibility appears in her work on college and sorority culture, such as her piece on “17 notable women who pledged Auburn sororities,” which treats membership lists as a window into the state’s social and cultural networks.

By consistently returning to recurring statewide events - from festivals to pageants and campus traditions - she positions entertainment not as isolated happenings but as part of an annual rhythm that shapes communal life.

Lifestyle features on local institutions and fan culture

Colurso’s entertainment beat extends into lifestyle coverage of businesses and branded spaces that have become destinations in their own right. She profiles beloved food institutions, including an ice cream shop known for intriguing flavors that has been singled out as the best in the state, treating the menu and atmosphere as part of local cultural identity.

Her gallery on Buc-ee’s merchandise at the travel center in Leeds tracks the full range of branded goods - from boxer shorts to bathing suits - with prices and product details that show how a roadside stop functions as a retail and fan environment.

This kind of piece blends consumer information with a close look at the fandom around a brand, illustrating how merchandise, décor and scale contribute to its appeal. Even when she is focused on entertainment-adjacent topics, her framing remains rooted in how people experience these places: what they buy, what they see and why the destination is noteworthy enough to merit a photo tour or feature. Together, these lifestyle stories sit alongside her music and events coverage to give a fuller picture of the venues, shops and attractions that make up Alabama’s entertainment landscape.

Lists, galleries and accessible formats

One of Colurso’s distinguishing traits is her consistent use of structured, accessible formats - lists, galleries and roundups - that make complex cultural topics easy to navigate. She builds numbered lists around themes such as landmark concerts or notable sorority members, turning extensive research into concise entries that highlight key facts and context without losing readability.

Her photo galleries on subjects like Lionel Richie or Buc-ee’s merchandise rely on strong visuals paired with short captions, allowing readers to move quickly while still absorbing essential information about artists, brands and events. She also produces large-scale festival guides that organize dozens of events into a single reference piece, using headings, brief summaries and practical details to help audiences decide where to go and what to see.

Across formats, she maintains a straightforward tone and keeps the focus on the subject - artists, venues, festivals, pageants or businesses - rather than on herself, which reinforces her role as a clear, reliable translator of entertainment and lifestyle stories for a broad readership.