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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)