Mary Chapin Carpenter Returns to the Kent Stage

Talking to singer-songwriter Mary Chapin Carpenter is pretty much just what you would hope it would be. She’s thoughtful and articulate — but never pretentious. She’s generous and refreshingly honest, much like her music.

The five-time Grammy winner plays the Kent Stage tonight at 8 p.m. It’s a return to Kent for Carpenter, who sold out the venue last July.

Carpenter’s most recent effort, The Age of Miracles, was released last year on the Zoe/Rounder label. Recorded in Nashville, it debuted at #28 on the Billboard 200 and #1 on the Billboard Folk chart. The album, her eleventh studio release, features guest vocals by Vince Gill and Alison Krauss on a couple of tracks.

Themes of regret and resilience tie the new album together, but Carpenter said she didn’t approach this record any differently than others. “I’ve always written from a fairly personal point of view and there are some deeply personal songs on the record, but there are songs that are, in my opinion, about looking out into the world,” Carpenter said.

The Ages of Miracles includes songs on topics such as about the uprising in Tiananmen Square and the memories of the first wife of Ernest Hemingway and their days in Paris in the early 1920s.

“Those are some rather disparate subjects,” Carpenter said with a laugh. “The thing that they all have in common, I think, is about connection. The idea that without our connections to one another, life is pretty meaningless.”

For Carpenter, it all comes down to communication.

“This week, when the great painter Cy Twombly passed away, a lot of the appreciations about him talked about how, with his painting, it was almost like the end result was not what was important to him, it was the act of doing it,” Carpenter said quietly. “It was the actual sort of ecstasy that he felt when he was working and that in the end all that mattered is that joy of communication. I feel that’s such important truth in terms of what really matters to any of us, regardless of our profession.”

After graduating from Brown University, Carpenter moved to Washington, D.C. and became involved in the area’s music scene. It was there where she met guitarist John Jennings, who would become her co-producer and long-time collaborator.  A demo tape led to a deal with Columbia Records, where she would remain for 20 years.

Carpenter had a remarkable ride during her time with Columbia, especially when the label actively promoted her as a country artist. Her most successful release, 1992's Come On Come On, yielded seven charting country singles and was certified quadruple platinum. Subsequent records Stones in the Road (1994) and A Place in the World (1996) also included hit singles.

Huge sales and rave reviews led to writing songs for other artists such as Joan Baez and Wynonna Judd, along with high-profile collaborations and appearances. Such experiences with major labels are almost non-existent nowadays, given the changes in the music industry.

“I really do appreciate everything that came my way when I was a Columbia artist,” Carpenter said. “I have to pinch myself most of the time, because I get to make the records I want to make, first and foremost. And I got to do that when I was with Columbia. I know so many stories where it didn’t turn out that way. I feel like I’ve led a charmed life in this regard, and I can’t help but feel grateful and kind of amazed.”

The current tour features Carpenter alongside a full 5-piece band: Jon Carroll on keyboards, Jennings and Jim Henry on guitar, Vince Santoro on drums and North Canton’s own Don Dixon on bass.

Dixon is an acclaimed record producer best known for his work with REM and the Smithereens. He played on the Stones in the Road record, and Carpenter has remained good friends with him and his wife, fellow singer-songwriter (and now painter) Marti Jones. “This past year when I was ready to go back out on the road, I was so excited he was able to join us,” she said.

With a catalog as deep as Carpenter’s, putting together a concert set list that keeps everybody happy can be a thankless task.

“The Age of Miracles is sort of a highlight in the set,” Carpenter said. “But I’m going to be going into the studio in January, and I have some songs that I have been enjoying road testing, so I have some unrecorded songs to play. Then there are slots for the old standbys, and some deeper catalog things that people might not expect to hear but that I want to bring back.”

Carpenter also likes to take time to explain some songs along the way.

“It’s challenging because with a two hour set, if I don’t talk too much, you might have time for 16 or 17 songs,” she said with a laugh. “So it’s just not long enough!”

Lucy Wainwright Roche was recently added as the opener for Wednesday’s concert. Daughter of Loudon Wainwright III and Suzzy Roche, she has performed at the Kent Stage with both of her parents in the past. A graduate of Oberlin College, Wainwright Roche recently returned from Europe where she opened for her father on a string of dates.

Tickets are $30.50 and $45.50 and are available online and at the door tonight. Doors open at 7 p.m.