Mary Chapin Carpenter

A Little MCC in Person

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“This shirt is old and faded
All the colors washed away
I’ve had it now for more damn years
Than I can count anyway
I wear it beneath my jacket
With the collar turned up high
So old I should replace it
But I’m not about to try” (Mary Chapin Carpenter).

I can cross one off the ol’ bucket list. I saw Mary Chapin Carpenter at the CMA Theater inside the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in downtown Nashville.

To say it was amazing sounds cliched but was really an understatement. It was a kind of clinic on songwriting by one of the best around.

I think that a good writer, whether it’s songs or books or movie scripts or anything else, has the ability to say your feelings and thoughts better than you ever could. You can hear a song or read a book or hear a line from a movie and say, “Yes, that’s exactly how I felt!”

It’s hard to believe she’s been in the business for 30 years. You don’t get that kind of longevity unless you’re really good at what you do and really love what you do.

I hope there’s lots more good songs to come from Mary Chapin Carpenter. I may just have an MCC road trip with all her albums as my soundtrack. Maybe one day soon.

Obsessed

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As you probably figured out by now, I’m a bit of a music nerd. I likes me some music.

I never got into the newfangled digital downloaded stuff and I’m not quite hipster enough (or wealthy enough) for vinyl. So I stick with CDs like any good respectable old fogey would.

When it comes to artists or groups that I really like, I tend to become more than a little obsessive. As in I must go and buy their entire catalog as soon as possible.

The latest case is Mary Chapin Carpenter. I love her songwriting and her voice. Her music takes me to a calmer, happier place– even in the middle of rush hour traffic on I-65 South.

I confess I pre-ordered her newest album, Sometimes Just the Sky, slated to be released on March 30. I have no shame in my game. I know there will be quality music playing in my car on that day.

Here’s the link if you want to check it out for yourself:

https://smile.amazon.com/Sometimes-Just-Mary-Chapin-Carpenter/dp/B0794M5M7X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1517285377&sr=8-1&keywords=mary+chapin+carpenter

 

 

 

Additional Worthwhile Christmas Music

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pentatonix-christmas-album

I may or may not have mentioned that I have one of the most awesome collections of Christmas music ever. If not, then I do have one of the most awesome collections of Christmas music ever.

Although I prefer the older Christmas music, I still occasionally pick up new recordings by newer artists from time to time.

Here’s a list of some of my most recent acquisitions that I think are pretty darn good:

1) Sting – If On a Winter’s Night

2) Barbra Streisand- A Christmas Album

3) Johnny Mathis- Merry Christmas

4) Pentatonix- That’s Christmas to Me

5) Bing Crosby- The Voice of Christmas: The Complete Decca Christmas Recordings

6) Richard Marx- Christmas Spirit

7) Mahalia Jackson – Mahalia Sings Songs of Christmas

8) Shawn Colvin- Holiday Songs and Lullabies

9) Mary Chapin Carpenter- Come Darkness Come Light: Twelve Songs of Christmas

10) Barry Manilow- In the Swing of Christmas

That’s not a definitive list of all my new favorites. First of all, I don’t have that kind of time to list them all. Second, I don’t want to come across as the world’s biggest nerd. But that is a sampling of what I’m listening to these days.

To me, it’s not really the Christmas season without Christmas music. So I hope this will help you add to your enjoyment of the season of celebrating Christ’s birth.