"She has this artistic desire to grow and expand all the time," says Sony Music Nashville executive VP/GM Allen Butler. "Then, as her record label, we always have to be cognizant of the fact that we have to have commercial music that we can get played on the radio. Sometimes, creatively, we're not on the same plain together, but what's fun about it is at the end of the project, everybody seems to have gotten what they want.
"We're all mutually excited about what she created here, which is a great piece of music artistically for her and a great piece of music commercially for us," Butler adds. "The blend of the two is almost perfect, and Chapin is one of the few artists I know that can pull that off".
Balancing art and commerce has been a successful combination for Carpenter ever since she first cracked the top 20 on Billboard's Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart in July 1989 with "How Do". Nine of her 18 subsequent singles have landed in Billboard's top 10, including "Never Had It So Good," "Down At The Twist And Shout," "I Feel Lucky," "He Thinks He'll Keep Her," "Passionate Kisses," and the No.1 "Shut Up And Kiss Me."
The first single from her new album, "Let Me Into Your Heart," will be released Sept. 23, and has already been getting exposure via inclusion in the new Kevin Costner movie "Tin Cup." "I like it," KMLE Phoenix PD Jeff Garrison says of the single. "I think after a long layoff [her last single release was in July 1995] country radio is really wanting to put Mary Chapin back on the map. She brought a lot of people to country when she came out."
Garrison says Carpenter is one of country's most recognizable voices, and he's eager to get her back on the airwaves. "It's good to hear an established artist come out with new product because it seems we've gone more to a song-by-song format," he says. "So I look forward to hearing good things from Mary Chapin."
Carpenter is hoping radio will appreciate what she delivers on "A Place In The World", her sixth Columbia album, but she says that radio is not the driving force for her when she is creating her music. "I try not to make radio the first thing I think about," she says. "But obviously, I think about radio. I have to. It's something I have to address sometimes, but it can't rule what you are feeling or writing about when you go into the studio. It can't create or dictate."
Carpenter's previous album, "Stones In The Road", debuted in the No. 1 position on Billboard's Top Country Albums the week of Oct. 22, 1994 [sic], and remained there for five weeks. It won the Grammy for best country album. Carpenter says that success didn't add any extra pressure during the making of the new album-at least none that she was aware of at the time.
"That was a cool thing that happened [with the last album], but I certainly know it can't happen all the time," she says, "and I wouldn't...judge a record that way."
When creating an album, Carpenter says she chooses to look inside for inspiration, not outside for gratification from the last record, to fuel her creative juices.
Carpenter has been performing several songs from the new album on her summer tour, including "Hero In Your Own Hometown," "I Want To Be Your Girlfriend," "Sudden Gift Of Fate," "Keeping The Faith," and "Let Me Into Your Heart." "The audiences have been great," she says. "I'm somewhat shy about playing new stuff before people have had a chance to hear it.
"I think I've had more fun this summer on the road than I've ever had," she adds. "I've been playing with Kim Richey and Trisha Yearwood, and the shows have been incredible."
During the latter part of September, Carpenter will be touring Europe with Lyle Lovett. "We will be going to Switzerland for a festival and then to the U.K.," she says.
Carpenter is managed by Borman Entertainment and is booked by the William Morris Agency.
Butler says Carpenter's new album will be simultaneously released in the U.S. and internationally. When Carpenter returns from her European dates, she'll begin heavy promotion of "A Place In The World" in the U.S.
Sony Music Nashville senior VP sales/marketing Mike Kraski says the label plans a two-pronged approach to marketing the album. "The first is to hit the mainstream country consumer, and we're going to do that with the traditional vehicles-country radio airplay and a video for the first single," he says. "Beyond that, [we plan] to get everyone in the industry excited about the project...In the month of October, we're going to be doing a number of market visits where Chapin will spend a little time with our partners in retail, radio, and media, just to tell them about the project and present the music."
Kraski says that from the beginning of November through the middle of December, the primary focus will be on the media. "Chapin has always tended to be a favorite of the critical media and the mainstream media," he says, "and that's how we're going to drive a lot of impressions, not only to country music fans but to those fans of Chapin's who don't necessarily listen to country radio or watch CMT."
According to Kraski, there will be an aggressive consumer advertising campaign to mainstream publications and less-than-mainstream video outlets. Butler says the label also plans to advertise in alternative newspapers in various cities. There will also be "win it before you can buy it" contests at radio and a world-premiere syndicated radio special coinciding with the album's launch.
Kraski says retail will also get a strong push via listening posts and point-of-purchase materials, including a large card designed for retail bins. "We want to bombard people with impressions that here, finally, is the long-awaited follow-up to 'Stones In The Road,' " Kraski says. "We've been out here on the road meeting with the accounts, and there is a great deal of enthusiasm for the release. As soon as people hear the album, they are flipping over it."
Jerry Adams, senior VP of music purchasing for rackjobber Handleman, says he likes what he's heard of the new album. "I love the single," he says. "And I really enjoyed 'Keeping The Faith.' " Adams feels press attention, combined with Carpenter's reputation and enthusiastic fan base, will make for strong sales out of the box.
In addition to her new album, fans can look for an upcoming children's book, "Dreamland," due Sept. 30 from HarperCollins. Proceeds from the book will be donated to the Institute For Intercultural Understanding, which provides education, assistance, and support to children and adults globally. The book, written by Carpenter, was inspired by her song "Dreamland," which she contributed to a 1992 children's album and video collection.