Mary Chapin Carpenter
November 5, 1998
The Michigan Theater, Ann Arbor, MI
Reviewed by Micah Holmquist
November 6, 1998
Since her 1987 debut Mary Chapin Carpenter has produced very compelling music which is not an easy task in any genre. The fact that she has done this in the field of country music and found at least a degree of acceptance from the Nashville establishment only makes it the more amazing. While most contemporary country performers only desire to be the next George Strait or Shania Twain, and could care less how they get there, Carpenter has pursued a different path. Never trying to recreate past hits, her music has progressed and developed. Unfortunately her November 5 performance at the Michigan Theater only showed hints of such growth and seemed like it was a concert stuck in the past.
"The concert began with a lack luster 40 minute set from Catie Curtis. Playing an acoustic guitar and backed by Jimmy Rodgers who played an electric guitar and mandolin, Curtis delivered lyrics that were far too sentimental and cliched. One song, about the pain felt by Curtis’ sister, ended with the lines "You went through more than I could take/ Look at you now." This is probably a heartfelt sentiment but because the song -titled "Look at You Now"- does not describe any of the problems faced by this woman it comes across as pure sap and worthy of nothing more than a greeting card. While the music itself was not bad, the lyrics rarely rose above this example and thus detracted from the entire performance.
After a 20-minute intermission Carpenter hit the stage and performed a cover of Bob Dylan’s "It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It takes a Train to Cry." With its blues progressions this song came across well and gave the impression that this concert would not be the greatest hits package that it would in fact be. The piano work of Jon Carroll was especially impressive here. Soon after this came superb versions of "He Thinks He’ll Keep Her" and "You Win Again." After a brief intro from bassist John Jennings, Carpenter strummed the instantly recognizable intro bars of "He Thinks He’ll Keep Her" and the crowd cheered with approval. Moving at a much slower tempo than the original recording, the tension in this cautionary tale of marriage was able to build thus allowing the song to reveal its full power. "You Wing Again" featured a very crunchy bass line and heavy feedback from guitarist Duke Levine. Combined they created a very apocalyptic and desolate mood which was perfect for this song about senseless devotion. Other highlights of the concert were a slow re working of Bruce Springsteen’s "Dancing in the Dark" and "If I Were A Diva" which commented on the careers of Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, Madonna, and Shania Twain. A hilarious parody, the highlight of the song was Carpenter pretending to sing like Dion with lines like "I’m on every soundtrack known to man/Mary Chapin Carpenter she is a harlot."
Despite these moments, on the whole the concert seemed a bit shallow. Carpenter seemed content to simply play her best known songs at the expense of more recent and arguably better material. While there was a smattering of mostly unmemorable new songs, Carpenter only performed two from her two most recent albums and both of those came from 1994’s Stones in the Road. Far too much of the material came from her best selling release, the 1992 album Come On, Come On.. While not a bad CD, it does pale in comparison to more recent releases. The crowd however did not seem to mind. Many probably did come to hear these songs and not more recent tunes. But for Carpenter to go along with such desires means that something has been lost. The performers that she made fun of in "If I Were A Diva" and the popular country music stars, which she has been so different from, are not bad because they never produce catchy songs. Rather they are bad because they never doing anything more than produce such songs. If they suddenly were unable to produce new popular songs, they would simply go back and perform their old hits. Such is not the path that one expects from Mary Chapin Carpenter yet that is exactly what she did in Ann Arbor. And that does not bode well for music.