Mary Chapin Carpenter comes to Mayo PAC
About 25 years ago, Mary Chapin Carpenter had a Top 10 Country single with "Quittin' Time," a song from her 1989 album, "State of the Heart." As she recalls, "It was an up-tempo, rock 'n' roll song. It was almost anthemic."
On her current tour, Carpenter performs the same song. However, this time, instead of being accompanied by a full band, she is backed only by two musicians: Jon Carroll on piano and John Doyle on guitars. She has also slowed down the tempo.
The results are revelatory, according to Carpenter. "When I do it with a trio, it's very bittersweet. It's almost mournful."
For Carpenter, the chance to reinterpret and reinvent songs from almost 30 years ago is one of the reasons why she relishes her current acoustic tour. Her next stop will be the Mayo Performing Arts Center on Wednesday, June 24.
"I've been doing this trio incarnation for about a year," says Carpenter. "It came from the desire to come on the road and play deep cuts – lesser-known songs, but ones that are just as loved, at least by me."
"You take a song that's been around a while and dissect it, maybe deconstruct it and see what happens," Carpenter says. "You find different colors and different textures."
The format also allows Carpenter to break down the wall between artist and audience. "I love to chat up the audience," she says. "I'll ask them questions. I'll ask if they want to ask me questions. We've had a lovely little dialogue."
In a way, Carpenter's current tour brings her full circle to her roots as a solo acoustic artist. A native of Princeton, she made her name in the thriving club scene in the Washington, D.C., area in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
She made her debut album, "Hometown Girl," in 1987. Her subsequent albums – "State of the Heart," "Shooting Straight in the Dark," and "Come On Come On" – established her as an important voice in the emerging country scene.
She started winning Country Music Association Awards and Grammys, including an unprecedented four consecutive Grammys for female country vocal performance.
Carpenter also earned acclaim for her insightful, witty songwriting. The reputation continues; in 2012, she was named to the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.
But Carpenter's version of country was always infused with other elements, such as pop, rock, and folk. One of her early hits was "Down at the Twist and Shout," recorded with the Cajun group Beausoleil.
In 2014, she released "Song from the Movie," in which she recorded older songs with a full orchestra. She says those songs were completely reinvented, thanks to producer and arranger Vince Mendoza.
"We've all heard different artists do 'orchestral' versions that sound as if they took the recorded track and just added strings," Carpenter says. "It was important that I not do that. In Vince's hands, the songs were completely transformed."
Some of that spirit of transformation is evident even in her new acoustic versions, according to Carpenter. "The string passages aren't there, but I find you can approach the songs with the same feeling."
Besides reworking her older songs, Carpenter is also using the current tour to debut some of the songs from a newly recorded CD, scheduled for release in the fall.
"I'm very excited by these songs," she says. "I went into the studio and cut 12 songs, and I love every one. If I didn't, I don't have any business recording them."
The passage of almost 30 years since her debut give Carpenter the chance to reflect on her evolution as an artist. "It sounds obvious, but I hope I'm a better songwriter now than I was," she says. "As we go on, we hope we get better."
"I'm so fortunate that I still get to do this," she says. "I still get to perform, and I still get to record. And people still come out to see me."
MARY CHAPIN CARPENTER
WHAT: The Princeton-born singer-songwriter leads an acoustic trio in performances of songs from such albums as "State of the Heart," "Come On Come On" and "The Age of Miracles." Carpenter will appear with Jon Carroll on piano and John Doyle on guitars. Opening act is singer-songwriter Aoife O'Donovan.
WHEN: 7 p.m. Wednesday, June 24
WHERE: Mayo Performing Arts Center, 100 South St., Morristown
TICKETS: $29 to $59