I have an apology to make to Mary Chapin Carpenter.
Mrs CC is a fan and has a few of her albums but I have never really given them a proper listen. I was only really familiar with the song He Thinks He'll Keep Her.
I've always assumed that she was one of those mainstream Country divas; a female equivalent of one of the Men in Hats.Having seen her in a Songwriter Circle in the Theatre Royal I have clearly been wrong. She is definitely more of a Nanci Griffith than a Faith Hill.
She mucked in with the other three contributors and despite being the most famous name there were no airs and graces and she was quick to give her fellow musicians credit.
The other three? The great Karine Polwart was seemlessly took up the role as Master of Ceremonies. I am a huge fan of Karine and have seen her on a number of occasions. She was as always fantastic.
She was the only one of the four that I've seen before. The other two were Gaelic singer Julie Fowlis and English Americana artist Robert Vincent. I was vaguely familiar with Julie's work having a copy of her album Uam. Robert was new to me.
It was an enjoyable night with the artists took turns to perform their songs. However it didn't really gel. Maybe because of the mix of different genres - folk, country and traditional. Also I am aware that in all likelihood this quartet who were all in Glasgow for Celtic Connections, were put together at short notice with very little time for rehearsals. Despite that they put on a pretty good show and I would give it a solid 7 out of 10
Mary Chapin Carpenter - The Hard Way
Good to see you reassessing Ms. CC. I picked up another one of her old albums in a charity shop last week. Always worth a spin.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly the others referred to her as Mary Chapin so perhaps it should just be Ms C?
DeleteIffypedia tells me that Carpenter is her surname and that Chapin is her middle name, after her father who was called Chapin Carpenter Jr.
DeleteNo relation to Harry though.
Either way, you CCs should stick together
DeleteAnd one of her biggest hits was a cover of a Lucinda Williams song which ought to endear her to you
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