Since signing to Rounder Records a few years ago, Mary Chapin-Carpenter has been progressively moving away from the artist who made her name on the contemporary Country music scene in the 90s, and exploring more traditional acoustic/folk territory.
This new album is a thoughtful and considered collection of well crafted stories populated by full formed characters – this is perfectly illustrated on ‘Mrs Hemmingway’, where she takes on the voice of Ernest Hemmingway’s first wife and tells the tale of their ill-fated marriage; it’s a superbly researched and constructed song that has a real impact.
This is backed up by a thoughtful study of a character present at Tiananmen Square in 1989 (“4 June 1989”), through to a number of songs that take a variety of views at domestic relationships.
As is to be expected from an artist of her standing, the musicians gathered together on the album are amongst the very best around, with Matt Rollings, Duke Levine, Dan Dugmore and Alison Krauss all contributing over the 12 songs.
Her smooth and expressive voice is as beautiful as ever, her distinct and reflective delivery suits these considered songs perfectly, and feels equally as comfortable on the spare acoustic arrangements as it does on the handful of fuller band tracks.
Those looking for the artist who populated the country charts fifteen years ago will most likely be disappointed (and would have been a couple of albums ago), but those looking for a mature and considered singer/songwriter album will find an artist and an album of real depth.

Track listing
1 We Traveled So Far
2 Zephyr
3 I Put My Ring Back On
4 Holding Up The Sky
5 4 June 1989
6 I Was A Bird
7 Mrs Hemingway
8 I Have A Need For Solitude
9 What You Look For
10 Iceland
11 The Age Of Miracles
12 The Way I Feel

£12.99