Mary Chapin Carpenter

Setting Priorities

"As things go, the country music commercial radio opportunities aren't perfect for all of us in the genre nowadays, and this is obvious," she said to the Ithaca Journal. "But I try to not to concern myself with the radio landscape. My concern is to be true to my songs." That truth is paramount throughout Mary Chapin Carpenter’s first new album since 2001’s Time*Sex*Love. It’s called Between Here and Gone, and it’s a collection of some twelve songs that rates with her greatest work. It’s a serious album, though not a pervasively dark one. These are songs with small, telling details, yet which navigate an expansive emotional landscape. They tackle content many songwriters steer away from their whole career; Carpenter is one of the rare songwriters who can write about difficult subjects as if she’s lived through all of them.

There are many beautiful and brilliantly lyrical songs here, most notably "Luna’s Gone," "Goodnight America," "River" and the breathtaking "Grand Central Station." At a point in a career when many artists are trying hard not to repeat themselves, Carpenter has crafted songs which take the best of the past, fuse it with the present and propel it into the future. The result are songs both timely and timeless.

She emerged onto the national stage almost two decades ago now, making her mark at the 1990 Country Music Association Awards broadcast where she performed a song not soon to be forgotten, "You Don't Know Me...I'm the Opening Act." It won over the stellar audience, and soon such luminaries as Garth Brooks, George Strait and Alan Jackson counted themselves among her fans. One of the few major country artists to write her own songs, she quickly established herself as a savvy and gifted songwriter-singer, and her career took off on wings of glory. Though she emerged in the axis of the country music community, her music has always blended many facets of modern music, including folk, rock and pop. Soon she had a string of country hits to call her own, including "Shut Up and Kiss Me," "I Take My Chances" and "He Thinks He'll Keep Her." She also scored with "Down At The Twist and Shout," a sprightly Cajun tune which features the band Beausoleil; "Passionate Kisses," written by Lucinda Williams, and others.

Now it’s 2004, and Carpenter has sold in excess of 12 million albums. That there are any hit singles on this new album seems unlikely, considering its serious, intimate nature. But it is certainly an album for the ages, to be enjoyed by her fans and newcomers for years to come. Carpenter is far more concerned with the artistic rather than commercial aspects of her work. "As far as the radio opportunities that may be out there in other formats, I just have to try to be optimistic," she said. "But the one thing that I know is that the careers that I've always admired -- and as far as I know, have always endured -- are the ones who have peaks and valleys. And what those artists have in common is that they've always followed their muse. That's what I would want to emulate, and that's the truest thing I know."

Though she is a star in Nashville, remarkably Between Here And Gone is her first album recorded exclusively in the country music capital. It reflects changes she has made in her both her business and personal life. "Just being able to take some time off, finally, from this non-stop touring, and meet my husband, and sort of rearrange the priorities in my life," she said, "has been a very welcome step for me. The time was right, and it's been a healthy thing to do. I couldn't have written this record without that: that space, that time, and that quiet in my life. I'm very proud of it for that reason. It's certainly nothing that I could've done at an earlier age."

- PAUL ZOLLO