That honesty and insight are the heart and soul of Mary Chapin Carpenter's stunning lyrics and well-thought-out melodies. Whether she's penning a rollicking tribute to a cajun dance hall in "Down at the Twist and Shout," describing in vivid detail a childhood memory in "Only A Dream," or breathing life into the story of a blind, deaf mute in "John Doe No. 24," Carpenter presents her songs with such amazing clarity that the listener is free to take part in every woven moment of the tale.
Mary Chapin was born in Princeton, New Jersey, 36 years ago, the third of four daughters to a father who was an executive at Life magazine and a mother who worked at a private school. When she was 11, her family moved to Japan for a couple of years for her father's job and then returned the the States where she finished high school and then attended Brown University. It was during those teenage years that Carpenter began writing songs that provided her with a catharsis for all of the trials that life seemed to be throwing her way-the loss of roots during her family's move, her parents eventual divorce, and the feeling of not fitting into any social groups. "I was so convinced of all of these feeling," she says, "that that's when I really retreated into playing music, being by myself, and scribbling my thoughts on paper."
When she was 19 and living in the Washington, D.C. area, the shy and reserved Carpenter finally got her nerve up to do an open mic at an area coffeehouse. "It was terrifying," she says as she remembers that first night on stage. "I think I almost went home before my turn came, but I stuck it out. And for years after that, even though I had been to many open mics, I still couldn't talk between songs. I would just mumble 'thank you very much,' she laughs.
After years of hitting those terrifying open mics and then moving up to playing a writer's circuit, Carpenter recorded a tape that was heard by CBS, bought by them, and then released by Columbia Records as her debut effort, Hometown Girl. Following that were three more albums, State of the Heart and Shooting Straight in the Dark which both went gold, and the critically acclaimed double platinum Come On Come On, which launched seven hit singles and led to six Grammy nominations and three Grammy Awards.
But the best seems yet to come. After taking a year off from her hectic schedule, Mary Chapin has written and recorded what may very well be her finest work so far. On her new album, Stones in the Road, Carpenter and longtime collaborator/coproducer/guitarist John Jennings have assembled a fine cast to do justice to the baker's dozen of songs that run the musical spectrum of emotion and style. With Matt Rollings' rolling touch on the piano, Lee Roy Parnell's bluesy slide guitar, Paul Brady's Celtic flavorings, Branford Marseilles' breathtaking soprano sax, and guest vocalists that include Trisha Yearwood, Shawn Colvin, and Robin and Linda Williams, Stones twists and turns with delightful surprises. But within those surprises still lie the heart of Mary Chapin Carpenter's gift-the ability to present the listener with worlds that so beautifully define and describe such seemingly personal emotions, that they are inevitably universal.
Before setting out on her extensive tour, I got a chance to talk with Mary Chapin about the art and challenges of songwriting. I have to say that I felt completely inspired and refreshed by her honest and thoughtful answers, her dedication to her craft, and her complete and sincere astonishment at the fact that she is perceived as such a profound and gifted writer by her peers, mentors, and multitudes of fans. It's no wonder that her songs have found a home in the hearts of so many.
Tell me about the making of your first album, Hometown Girl.It wasn't really a conscious decision to do an album. John Jennings and I had been dating and we broke up, and I was kind of wallowing in misery and he was feeling pretty bad. And one day we just happened to bump into each other after we had broken up, and I was just angry and hurt and he wanted to make it better. So he said, "Well what can I do, how can I be your friend?" I didn't want him to be my friend, you know I want him to suffer (laugh). And I just blurted out, "well, let's see, you can help me make a tape," which I knew I could hawk at my gigs. He had a basement studio, so we started this very patchwork process of just calling up some musicians that I knew every time I had some money in my pocket, and they would come over and record some songs. And then it got heard and I got a record deal. So it ended up as the first record, even though that's not what I ever imagined or intended. Life can be very strange (laugh).
Has your approach to writing changed since your first album?It's just sort of designating time in a different way, I think that's the only difference. Before when I was working my day job, I would work all day and then I would come home and work at my desk at night and on the weekends, and that's when I'd write songs. But now I can't come home from my job every night, so it's more like I'm away for a period of time, I come home, and then I write. There was a period of time when I started traveling a lot that I really got down on myself that I wasn't keeping up with the way it used to be. But the fact was that my life was different in terms of the day-to-day logistics of it, and I couldn't hope to recreate that. So when I stopped putting myself down, in a way, for not being able to write on the road, I realized that when you're out on the road, you're doing roadwork. And that's what you do out there, so don't beat yourself up because you can't write as well. So you write when you get home. And it took me a couple of years to come to terms with that.
Do you feel a lot of pressure when you have to write an album?I think the pressure is there only in that there's a different kind of timing involved. And whatever pressure is there, per se, the source of it is within yourself. It's not like there's record company or managers or people like that bearing down on me saying "come on," you know. The pressure is to feel within yourself that you are doing your best work. That, to me, is what pressure is. And so in a way only I can temper that pressure by working and feeling like I'm meeting my standards for myself.
Do you feel like you meet those standards?(Laughs)Not all the time, no. I mean, I don't like every song I write at all. I throw out more than I keep.
Do you hit a point where you worry that you're not going to write another song?Oh, sure. And there are some days when I guess I don't feel like I'm a songwriter because I don't feel like I know how to do it. And there are other days when you finish a song and you feel like a songwriter, and that identity feels very comfortable.
Are you a disciplined writer?I wouldn't call it discipline, it's just part of everyday when you're home. It's a very normal thing to walk into the room where my desk is and pick up my guitar and just work on things. It's always sort of in progress. It not like, "Okay, from here to here I'm going to write." But when I was working on this latest album, it was really important to sort of shut off the rest of the world and say that I really need to devote myself to this and not have a whole lot of distractions for a long period of time.
Are there certain times of day when you feel more creative?I suppose mostly during the day. I get up early and work throughout the day. Then I'm kind of whipped by late afternoon so I don't think about much of anything after that.
Have you ever written a song from a dream?Not really. Even though I think of things at a certain point and then time passes and it evolves into a song. I've heard those songwriters' stories about dreams, though. I remember when I used to say I'd had a deja vu, an old boyfriend of mine would say "Deja vu's are nothing more than dreaming the future." So I would run in horror if my songs meant that they were the future (laughs). I'd think I'd already been through them, so why do I have to go through them again!
Are there things that you do to stay in creative shape.I think writing keeps you in shape. In other words, when I started working on the songs for this album it took a long time to sort of "get in the zone." And you hear a lot of songwriters say-and I think it's very true-that songwriting is a muscle and you have to exercise it. And when you haven't exercised it, like anything else, it will be out of shape and will take a little while to get there. And that's definitely true for me. When I started writing this album, the songs were just very unappealing to me, and for one reason or another I wasn't happy with them. But eventually it started to happen. And I think the way to stay in creative shape is to continue to write, whether you're coming up with songs or not. You are doing what you do. Just keep working on your lyrics and lyrical ideas and continually be open to that process.
Do you ever use rhythms to get an idea for a song?Gosh, I never thought about it. It's more music that evokes a certain feeling, or a lyrical idea that I search for some music for. If it's something where the initial seed of the idea is a musical passage that's rhythmically a certain way, then it's just like a riff that sort of happens, and I'll write around that. I think it's true that there are different ways of starting a song-sometimes it's a musical phrase that inspires it or evokes something, so every song is different.