On the last night of her fall tour, Mary Chapin Carpenter had a full house sans the rock & roll band. And while a typical fan may have quoted her smash cover of Lucinda Williams' "Passionate Kisses" with cries of "Shouldn't I have this?" at the absence of the latter, Carpenter, as she is fully capable of doing, threw a curveball with this performance.

Of course, this shouldn't have come as a surprise. Carpenter's decade-long career has been spent defying rules and expectations -- particularly those of Music City. Like Dwight Yoakam and scant few others, she hangs her hat (or rather, kicks off her Birks) well outside of Nashville, defiantly writing the majority of her own material, covering the coolest of fringe country's coolest splinters, performing with a quietly incredible collaborator and doing her best to keep things fresh. All that, and she's an Ivy League grad to boot.

On this night, Carpenter's twenty-two song set found her dropping some of her pop sheen off by the side of the road and letting her strongest skill, songwriting, take the wheel. She kicked off the night of surprises with a bluesy doozy, dusting off Bob Dylan's "It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry" before settling in with the beautiful mandolin and accordion driven "When Halley Came to Jackson." Then came the sad songs, one after another. But whenever it seemed that all hope was gone, Carpenter would skillfully lift the mood with something a little less grim, like the upbeat "Why Walk" and the hysterical, show-stopping "If I Were A Diva," in which she mocked and mimicked the likes of Madonna, Mariah and Celine. Carpenter proved to be a superb navigator, frequently making jests at the expense of her sometimes austere catalog of songs. "This is a bummer song by someone else," she said by way of introducing Bruce Springsteen's "Dancing in the Dark," a soft-yet-thrilling take on the Boss hit that allowed the lyrics to breathe for a change.

Ultimately, this mostly acoustic showcase was a quietly stirring performance that had more in common with her superb Stones in the Road than the multiple-platinum Come On Come On. While upbeat takes on the inevitable "I Feel Lucky," "He Thinks He'll Keep Her" and "I Take My Chances" stirred the audience, it was the more introspective songs that truly took flight. Carpenter had strong command of her voice, holding back the fuller vocal sound of her albums for something more delicate, especially in the fragile harmonies with her talented longtime collaborator John Jennings. Jennings, too, had a perfect feel for the evening, as his playing on bass and guitar was never flashy, but the perfect complement to the understated nature of the songs.

It was a set that saw Carpenter achieve a crowd-pleasing balance of material. For the fans of her more mainstream songs, there were the hits plus an appearance by Shawn Colvin on two songs. For a dash of alt.country cred, ex-Blood Orange helmsman Jimmy Ryan came out to pick mandolin on the set closing sing-along, "Almost Home." But this performance was also about Carpenter's more subtle strengths, which were best revealed in her quieter moments. For while you can clap, snap, sing and dance along to "I Feel Lucky," it's Carpenter's beautiful whisper on the title track from the same album, "Come On Come On," that lingers on after the night is done.

ANDREW DANSBY
(November 24, 1998)