Singer’s Individuality Shines On New Cd
Mary Chapin Carpenter, “A Place in the World” (Columbia)
Like her succinct talent for allowing commercial viability to coexist harmoniously with creative individuality, Mary Chapin Carpenter remains a marketable contradiction in hit-conscious Nashville.
Ever since her country radio breakthrough with 1989’s “State of the Heart” album, Carpenter, an Ivy League-educated singer-songwriter reared on the folk coffeehouses of Washington, D.C., has maintained a carefully constructed balance between the polished studio attitude of the Music City and the carefree, intellectual spirit of her bohemian upbringing.
At first listen, “A Place in the World” - Carpenter’s first album since 1994’s “Stones in the Road” - is clearly an easier sell than its dark, heavy-handed predecessor. “Let Me Into Your Heart,” the jubilant, Memphis soul lead single, is as irresistible and ear-candy catchy as previous radio staples “I Feel Lucky,” “Shut Up and Kiss Me” and “Down at the Twist and Shout.” It’s three minutes of sassy, Cajun-spiced FM heaven.
” ‘Let Me Into Your Heart’ feels like a solid song to me, it’s not a wannabe song,” Carpenter said during a recent promotional stint through Dallas. “Same thing for ‘Ideas Are Like Stars.’ I can put ‘Ideas Are Like Stars,’ a predictably noncommercial song, next to a song that’s very commercial. I’d like to think that’s the most logical thing in the world. Why wouldn’t it be?”
For an artist as grounded as Carpenter, it is a logical thing. “Ideas Are Like Stars,” “World’s” introspective ballad, serves as a minibiography of the late American artist Joseph Cornell, a man who lived a lonely life in overpopulated New York. “Ideas Are Like Stars” is the name of one of Cornell’s shadow boxes, which is now part of a collection of his works at the National Museum of American Art in Washington.
In the song - a quiet, folky arrangement punctuated by a classical piano and slight drum work - Carpenter sings about ideas as abstract objects that “fall from the sky, run around your head and litter your sleep as they beckon.”
This is definitely not typical country fodder, but neither was the contemplative “I Am a Town” from 1992’s multiplatinum “Come On Come On” or the reflective “This Shirt” from “State of the Heart.” On the new record, the jangly pop-rock of “Hero in Your Own Hometown” cushions the cut’s perceptive lyrics - a chronicle of the baby-boom generation. “I Can See It Now,” with its repetitive refrain and ear-pleasing midtempo melody, is actually a disturbing account of a broken relationship.
These experimental touches and the depth she brings to drive-time standards such as 1993’s “He Thinks He’ll Keep Her” - not a song about a happily married couple - separate Carpenter from today’s batch of empty artists selling records.
“It’s really hard to walk that line of commercial appeal and the things that I want to write about or address that I know inherently aren’t that commercial,” she said. “How to walk that line is something I try not to let rule me but I also acknowledge exists. All I know to do is follow my muse. If it somehow lands on that line that’s great, but if it doesn’t I’ll find out soon enough.”
It’s safe to say radio airplay and commercial rewards will come her way without compromise. “A Place in the World,” while more accessible than “Stones in the Road,” is still not a drastic change from her previous efforts. Ultimately, it’s vintage Mary Chapin Carpenter - smart, tuneful, passionate.