Comments on: 100 Greatest Women, #29: Mary Chapin Carpenter

By: Country Universe » Country Quizzin’ - 01/27/09 Edition

Country Universe » Country Quizzin’ - 01/27/09 Edition — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 02:46:08 +0000

[...] ANSWER: Mary Chapin Carpenter [...]

By: Leeann

Leeann — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 02:40:42 +0000

I’ve always loved MCC! To me, her voice isn’t flashy, but calming, in a way. I love her songs and how she sings with passion and emotion, but seems to sing with ease all at the same time.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 22:22:46 +0000

Good catch. I didn’t word that well at all. I need to change that. Thanks.

By: Ben

Ben — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 20:32:42 +0000

Not to be a smart-ass, but if MCC was “Brown-educated… by the time she picked up her guitar,” how could her HIGH SCHOOL classmates have “threatened to cut her guitar strings”?

By: Tom

Tom — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 17:38:43 +0000

rick,

however light-heartedly poetic your rembrandt-analogy may sound (it made me laughing out loud) – it’s right on the money.

By: Rick

Rick — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 06:21:03 +0000

MCC was such a breath of fresh air when she hit the Top 40 country scene with hard hitting songs like “Quittin’ Time” which were as radical as Steve Earle’s “Guitar Town” had been years before. “Something of a Dreamer” reminded me of great sixties folk rock songs like Simon and Garfunkel’s “Scarborough Fair” and was like a musical Rembrandt mixed among Top 40 finger painting exercises. Mary did not have what could be considered a particularly strong voice, and she wasn’t the prettiest gal in country music, but crikey did she and John Jennings make a killer songwriting duo.

As for Paul Dennis only being able to listen to a little MCC at a time, I must point out that “State of The Heart ” is one of the worst sounding country CD’s I’ve ever owned! It sounds like it embodies all the sonic evils of poorly executed digital recording using first generation digital gear, which sucked. The overall sound is consistently thin and harsh and one dimensional, and some of her other early albums also had poor sound quality as well. Some of the songs on “State of the Heart”, such as “This Shirt”, are absolutely brilliant but every time I listen to that album the sound quality issues always interfere with the listening experience. If ever an album cried out to be remastered, its that one….

By: Kevin

Kevin — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 03:32:23 +0000

Jonathan,

You listed all of my favorite Chapin singles in one fell swoop. I’d add “Why Walk When You Can Fly” and “Going Out Tonight” to that list.

Regarding the seven or more singles thing, Shania pulled seven from The Woman in Me (eight, if you count the expanded “God Bless the Child”) and eleven from Come On Over (twelve counting “When”, which was an international single.) She actually pulled eight from Up!, but three were only international singles (“When You Kiss Me”, “Thank You Baby” and “Ka-Ching”.)

The Dixie Chicks pulled nine singles from “Fly.” I imagine “Home” would’ve been good for six or seven if the incident hadn’t happened.

I can’t think of another country album with seven or more radio singles. Dwight Yoakam’s “If There Was a Way” had six radio singles and a video single, though.

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 03:01:15 +0000

Unfortunately, that phenomenal CMA performance of “Where Are You Now” that MCC did with Kim Richey and Trisha Yearwood has long since been deleted from Youtube. That’s one of my all-time favorite awards show performances– Trisha just wailed the hell out of a song that should’ve been one of her biggest hits, but the harmonies from MCC and Richey were quite prominent in the sound mix and the effect was just awesome. I remember that, at the time, I wanted the three of them to record a Trio-like project– and I’d still love for that to happen now, even.

Time*Sex*Love is an underrated effort, with some of her most consistently top-shelf writing. And Come On Come On has aged remarkably well– if it wouldn’t have caused Music Row to spontaneously combust, she probably could’ve released even more singles from it. Still, seven hit singles from one album is just a stunning statistic, especially when considering what smart choices MCC has made about choices of singles over the course of her career. Other than Shania Twain, has any other country star even attempted to replicate that feat?

In addition to the ones you’ve already mentioned, my favorite singles of hers would include “You Win Again,” “House of Cards,” “The Better to Dream of You,” and “Almost Home.” It’s also worth mentioning that, like some of Wynonna’s singles of that time, “Passionate Kisses” scored significant crossover airplay, peaking just outside the top 10 at Adult Contemporary radio.

By: Paul W Dennis

Paul W Dennis — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 02:18:14 +0000

You have her about where I had her although I’ve been mentally berating myself for having her this high and I had given serious consideration to moving her into the “fellow travelers” category, but her chart success dissuaded me.

I can listen to but a little MCC at a time before I’m ready to move on to something else. I’m not sure why that is, because I like most of her material . Anyway she has been a considerable force in the industry

By: Erik North

Erik North — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 00:14:27 +0000

Mary has clearly written a lot of great songs for herself and for those artists that have covered her; and for a number of years, she did find favor in the country field. In general, though, her thoughtful style may have been more than the country music industry could handle. Her absence from country radio now is much more country radio’s loss than it is hers.