Guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Mary Chapin Carpenter has performed at the White House, the Super Bowl, the Grand Ole Opry and Lincoln Center.
Guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Mary Chapin Carpenter has performed at the White House, the Super Bowl, the Grand Ole Opry and Lincoln Center.
On Oct. 18 at 7:30 p.m., she and her band will play Memorial Hall at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Carolina Performing Arts will present the five-time Grammy winner, whose blend of folk, country, rock and blues also have won her numerous awards from the Country Music Association and the Academy of Country Music.
But audience members won’t just hear classics that rocked the airwaves in the 1990s, including “Down at the Twist and Shout,” “I Feel Lucky” and “Shut Up and Kiss Me.” Carpenter also will bring new material from her latest and 12th album, “The Age of Miracles,” a work she describes as a personal exploration of regret and resilience that blends tales of experience and discovery.
A New York Times reviewer described her Lincoln Center appearance in January as “a quietly spellbinding concert” rendered “in the low, steady voice of someone confiding her thoughts in a journal.”
Among musicians performing with her will be longtime local producer and bass player/vocalist Don Dixon of the former rock band Arrogance and John Jennings, her guitarist, co-producer and collaborator from the earliest days of her career.
Born in Princeton, N.J., in 1958, Carpenter lived in Japan from 1969-71 before moving to Washington, D.C. Her parents divorced when she was 16, sparking her songwriting as “an escape hatch,” she has said. Her early musical loves included The Mamas & the Papas, Woody Guthrie, The Beatles and Judy Collins.
She grew up playing the guitar, and between college years at Brown University, she played bars and clubs in the Washington area. After graduating from Brown in 1981, she remained part of Washington’s music scene. A demo tape led to a deal with Columbia Records, where she spent nearly 20 years and sold more than 13 million albums.
Carpenter signed with Rounder Records in 2006. “The Calling” in 2007 and “Come Darkness, Come Light: Twelve Songs of Christmas” in 2008 followed.
Carpenter has been active with AIDS charities, women’s social services, the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation, the Campaign for a Landmine-Free World and other causes, also playing USO tours.
Recently she received The Americana Association’s Spirit of Americana Free Speech in Music Award, which recognizes artists who have used their work to raise awareness and promote free speech.
Tickets for her UNC performance start at $10 for UNC students and range from $39 to $109 for others. For tickets, visit the Memorial Hall box office at 140 E. Cameron Ave., open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays; call (919) 843-3333 or visit www.carolinaperformingarts.org.
Photo: http://uncnews.unc.edu/images/stories/news/arts/2011a/carpenter_marychapin_10_2010_rgb.jpg
Video: http://www.last.fm/music/Mary+Chapin+Carpenter/_/Shut+Up+And+Kiss+Me/+videos/+3-USSM20100569
Carolina Performing Arts contact: Ellen James, (919) 843-0516, Ellen_James@unc.edu
News Services contact: LJ Toler, (919) 962-8589