The Dirt And The Stars - Mary Chapin Carpenter (2020)
Maybe because modern country music is filled female artists who are blurring the lines between country, folk, and roots rock, Carpenter seems to have retreated a bit from the spotlight.
The intervening years since her pop-country breakout albums have seen her a bit less out of the spotlight, but she’s become an even more astute observer of the human condition. Her songs on this more recent record are thoughtful and insightful. The music is a bit more sedate, with less of a radio-friendly crispness but more space to breathe.
Secret Keepers is a particularly wonderful modern track that channels a bit of pop psychology into a solid approach to life.
If I’m nitpicking, I’d say that a few tracks before that on American Stooge, she doesn’t take her own advice and takes some pretty surface-level pot-shots at far right politicians without considering that they also carrying things around. But that’s probably another post on a different publication.
As with anyone who’s had time wear the edges off them, Carpenter has bouts of nostalgia, like on Old D-35. A D-35 is the model of Martin guitar that is basically the platonic ideal that pops into your head when someone says “acoustic guitar.”
There’s always a lot to take in when Mary Chapin Carpenter drops a new record, and this one is no exception.
