OnlineHost: Your host tonight is AOLiveMC11 (JackDL) OnlineHost: Multi-platinum recording artist Mary Chapin : Carpenter has an array of achievements to be : proud of these days. With over eight million : albums sold world-wide, five Grammy Awards, : two Country Music Association Awards, and a : host of other honors, this singer-songwriter has : steadily added to her credentials as she's : appealed to an ever-growing audience. Welcome!

AOLiveMC11: Please join me in welcoming Mary Chapin Carpenter to the Celebrity Circle!

MaryChapnC: I'm very glad to be here!!!!

AOLiveMC8: Good evening MAry!

MaryChapnC: hi

AOLiveMC11: Cire Yelne has our first question for you tonight:

Question: What would you say is the song that has the most meaning for you personally?

MaryChapnC: God that's a hard one. Each song means something really important when you're writing it I guess I wouldn't be able to pick a favorite , sorry

AOLiveMC11: CCIvyA would like to address this question:

Question: Do you have a fan club address?

MaryChapnC: I don't have a fan club per se; I do have an address that recieves mail on my behalf and then if I have the ability/time to answer any letters I do. The address is: MCC, 15030 Ventura Boulevard, 1-710, Sherman Oaks CA... I also have a hotline phone # it is: 310-247-3587

AOLiveMC11: And use your AOL Web-browser to check out this address: www.sony.com/music/nashville/mcc That info is in our guests bio here in AOL Live! AusRower would like to ask:

Question: Have you been in any movies?

MaryChapnC: I am laughing my head off!! No disrespect to my questioner. IT's just that I am completely pathetic when it comes to being a "Master Thespian"... If you ever saw my video for I Feel Lucky I actually have a few lines and I deserve an Oscar for WORST PERFORMANCE EVER!!!!!!

AOLiveMC11: I'm sure we will all agree to disagree on that!

AOLiveMC11: DiAlEv3 asks:

Question: How did you end up in the country music genre?

MaryChapnC: To answer the previous question, I haven't been in any movies. Now, to my next one I think it was a question of timing, and of where Country music was in 1987 and of the certain things I feel I have in common with what we all think of as country - story driven, lyric oriented music.

AOLiveMC11: JessDeLeon wants to ask you:

Question: What was the inspiration for the song, A Place in the World?

MaryChapnC: I would say that APITW is a song that's been bubbling under for quite a few years NOthing in particular inspired it, event-wise in my life. But I was trying to get down on paper my thoughts about why, how, we do what we do, especially during times of difficulty, adversarial times etc.

AOLiveMC11: CCIvyA has this question for you:

Question: What inspired you to write the children's book, DREAMLAND?

MaryChapnC: The book was originally a lullaby that I wrote for a Rosanne Cash-instigated project called Til Their Eyes Shine: The Lullaby Album...She asked Various female artist friends to submit a lullaby : either traditional or original and the cd and accompanying video would benefit the Institute for Intercultural Understanding, specifically the "Voiceless Victims" project. It helps children growing up in war-ravaged places around the world Then last year the publishers, HarperCollins asked if I had any interest in taking the lyrics and illustrating them. I loved Julia Noonan's work and given that the charity element would be continued I was keen to do it. So the book actually consists of the lyrics to the song "Dreamland" ---whew, long answer, sorry!

AOLiveMC11: Mitsy11 asks:

Question: Who influenced you the most in your singing career?

MaryChapnC: Oh I always think this is an incredibly hard question because I grew up listening to so many kinds of music and so many different singers. And I really loved so much that I do believe we are influenced by EVERYTHING we hear, whether we're aware of it or not...Certain artists that I continue to admire, worship, you know, completely adore are folks like Randy Newman Paul Brady, the Beatles, Crowded House, in particular NeilFinn, Bonnie Raitt, old Brit folk rock stuff and newer artists like Patty Griffin (do yourself a favor and go out and get her album called "LIving with Ghosts - incredible) and Gillian Welch and longtime fav's like my pal Shawn, Rosanne, Jim Lauderdale, John Gorka, the list goes on and on and on and I am leaving out so many

AOLiveMC11: ALABAMAlu asks:

Question: I have your absolutely *stunning* version of Downtown and Grow Old...ever considered doing a cover album of *your* favorites? Susan Huntsville, AL

MaryChapnC: Thanks so much for your kind words. Songs like the ones you mention and others such as !0,000 Miles are things that I hope to include on future album projects. A combo hits and special tracks would be a cool idea :)

AOLiveMC11: SDW101 asks:

Question: In the song, Stones in the Road, what does the line "we make you hold" mean?

MaryChapnC: It refers to the process of putting someone on hold via telephone, the idea being we're sitting high above the world in our big gleaming office buildings communicating with eachother but not really, too busy to talk, putting you on hold, never getting a human voice but probably a recording. have you ever noticed (this happened to me the other day) I was calling a certain unamed Airline to check if my flight would be delayed by weather. Well I had to punch in about 20,000 different numbers plus star or whatever before I could get a humanoid to talk to me to verify the information I had previously received via robot and the irony is the human had incorrect info too!!!

AOLiveMC11: Luvyellab wonders:

Question: Did you teach yourself to play the guitar, and how old were you when you wrote your first song?

MaryChapnC: Well yes I do consider myself to be self-taught on the guitar - although I've always felt that whenever you go to a concert, and you watch someones hands and pay attention closely enough, it's as good as a lesson..I wrote my first song as a wee babe and it was dreadfull. I have no recollection now of it except it had something to do with dead bees on the sidewalk.

AOLiveMC11: MarcEditor asks:

Question: Mary Chapin, in your amazing song "John Doe No. 24," did Louis' father die in front of him in a shotgun house? That song always gets to me, and I've wondering this for years. Thanks, and best of luck!

MaryChapnC: Thanks for your kind words - In my head I was imagining that Louis only had a distant memory of his father and it consisted of remembering how it felt to have his small hand inside of his father's. The shotgun houses were where I imagined that Louis left before he ended up in Illinois. It is, of course, artistic license. The thing about Louis is that he recalls and experiences things through touch and smell.

AOLiveMC11: Beth Gar would like to know:

Question: Besides music, what other arts form moves you? Can you give an example? Has it moved you to write something?

MaryChapnC: I love to go to art exhibits. The song on my new record called "Ideas Are Like Stars" was inspired by the work of Joseph Cornell, a very enigmatic and brilliant artist who died in the early '70's. He actually created a work called "Ideals are Like Stars' but the title had been misprinted a number of times and I saw it as Ideas..But the true title comes from an address that Carl Scharz gave in Boston in 1859: " Ideals are like stars; you will not succeed in touching them with your hands. But like the seafaring man on the desert of waters, you choose them as your guides and following them you will reach your destiny" I absolutely love that.

AOLiveMC11: MarcEditor would like to know more about:

Question: Mary Chapin, what do you do as co-chair of the pro-literacy organization you're in? Thanks very much!

MaryChapnC: Which organization are you specifically referring to? I have lent my name to various organizations an and have donated proceeds from trading cards and such.

AOLiveMC11: Earvin32 has a follow-up question about your writing:

Question: Your SITR tour book was so beautifully written and put together...do you have any plans to do more writing outside of songs?

MaryChapnC: I'm really glad you liked the tour book. I worked my butt (!) off to get that done - deadlines are hell...I would very much like to see what else I might do in a non-songwriting vein, although I doubt very much if it would be fiction I guess because I feel more at ease with essays and such

AOLiveMC11: REBeffa asks:

Question: MCC- I heard that you recorded Runaway Train but never released it. Any chance you might do a duet of it with John Stewart? I know Rosanne Cash had a big hit with it, but it is such a good song.

MaryChapnC: I doubt John and I would ever consider a duet - the version by Rosanne is so great and he's done : his own version. Oh gosh I don't know, one never knows what will happen. 12 years ago I never would have guessed that my life would have gone this direction.

AOLiveMC11: NetTrecker asks:

Question: Hi Mary. Do you ever get frustrated with being labeled as a "country artist" when your music is really an amalgamation of alot of different stlyes of music. Why or why not?

MaryChapnC: Well no I actually don't get frustrated with an identity of a country artist. What I get frustrated by are people's narrow definitions of what they believe country music is or should be. And while we're talking let me explain to everyone that my first name is Mary Chapin - those two names make up one name for me. So when someone refers to me as Mary, I'm always oblivious - I don't know who they're talking to.

AOLiveMC11: WCLAYN asks:

Question: Mary, hello! I would first like to say I love your new album. What, for you, is the most important aspect of what you do? Thanks, WCN.

MaryChapnC: I suppose you mean is songwriting more important or recording, or performing??? I actually feel that all three things fulfill me in such different ways and they constitute such different parts of a life. Songwriting is something I would do no matter what and recording and performing are a bit more dependant on whether or not there is anyone out there willing to purchase a ticket or buy a record I suppose.

AOLiveMC11: DEANSTER6 has high praise, as well as this question, for you:

Question: Chapin, how do you craft your lyrics? Do songs take a long time for you to write or do the lyrics come to you all at once? You are one of our greatest American poets.

MaryChapnC: What a lovely compliment and I thank you. Some songs seem to me to take FOREVER to write. I mean, I have been trying to write Ideas Are Like Stars for nearly six years!!! Granted, it's changed considerably with each attempt, but I still worked on it forever. It's just a constant editing process for me, I guess when one thinks of their "craft". And then there are some songs that just hit you-BAM and it's written itself. Iris Dement thinks of herself as "Waiting" for songs to come to her and in the end they are like "visitations". I like that analogy.

AOLiveMC11: CCIvyA has a question about the past for you:

Question: How did you get your first break into show business?

MaryChapnC: I would want to know what do you consider "Show Business" ? :) Do you mean my first paying gig, or first tv shot

AOLiveMC11: How about both?

MaryChapnC: or first record etc. Perhaps a follow up question can be provided here.

AOLiveMC11: Hemi13 would like to know:

Question: What inspires you? When you find you write your best material?

MaryChapnC: Hold on a minute. First paying gig at Gallagher's pub in DC around 1988. First TV shot I can't recall I was probably fainting from nervousness. As far as what inspires a song, I do think that anything can and does...John Doe No.24 was inspired by an obituary and Idea's by a shadow box. Then obviously my own twisted existence(YEAH!!!) can be fodder as well as expoiting the lives of my nearest and dearest friends. Actually my friends are pretty cool about it...

AOLiveMC11: MGibbs983 wonders:

Question: I am a songwriter, new to the business, can you give me any advice on the best ways to pitch songs?

MaryChapnC: Well I think it is a question of how motivated you want to be. First I would put myself in touch with ASCAP and/or BMI or SESAC, the performing rights societies. Part of what they're supposed to do is act as a resource for writers who wish to pursue it in a more intense way. They should be able to help you with advice about pitching, publishers etc.

AOLiveMC11: Netz135 asks:

Question: HI Mary, You recorded a song about Haley's Comet. What album would that be on ?

MaryChapnC: That song is called "Halley Came To Jackson" and if my brain is working I would tell you it's on Shooting Straight In The Dark. All those kind people on my AOL bulletin board know all these answers! Answers!!!

AOLiveMC11: Coolremve wonders:

Question: what park was passionate kisses filmed in?

MaryChapnC: Nice screen name there...We filmed the video in a few different locations. One was on Roosevelt Island in DC

AOLiveMC11: Earvin32 is hoping for some good news:

Question: Chapin, I had heard you might be involved in a concert in Princeton in January. Is that going to happen?

MaryChapnC: I was invited by Christopher Reeve to participate in a benefit in Princeton. Chris and his family lived across the street when we were both kids growing up- he was in my oldest sister's class in high school. So I am more than happy to help out ( and many others as well- we are just a small part of the show) for an old friend.

AOLiveMC11: Unfortunately, we have time for just one more question tonight: from ALABAMAlu:

Question: Have you ever considered doing a Christmas or seasonal album (CD)?

MaryChapnC: I don't want this to be over! We just got started! My typing skills are finally starting to come back to me!!!!! Sorry - I haven't really gotten to a place where a seasonal lp has appealed to me. Perhaps because I didn't want to work with familiar material, or I feel guilty because I don't ever go to church with my folks on Xmas eve no matter how many times they ask me. I Am so Lazy - just kidding. Maybe one day soon. The album, that is....

AOLiveMC11: Thank you for a wonderful hour tonight, Mary Chapin Carpenter! Do you have any closing

AOLiveMC11: words for us?

MaryChapnC: Well this was truly the most wild time I've had as far as answering questions.. who would've thunk it MaryChapnC: that you can show up with dirty hair, big old sweat pants, zits on your face MaryChapnC: and the dogs at my feet smelling like mud and talk to all these nice folks - So thanks so much and let's do it again Sooon-- wishing you and yours a very happy and SAFE holiday season. XXXXMCC

AOLiveMC11: You have done a stupendous job tonight, Mary Chapin! I hope we can see you here again. AOLiveMC8: Thank you Mary Chapin for your wonderful music. AOLiveMC11: And our thanks to the audience members without whom we couldn't do this!

AOLiveMC11: Good night everyone!

MaryChapnC: Goodnight All!!

AOLiveMC8: Say good night Jack

MaryChapnC: Thanks and goodnight