Comments on: Classic CMA Awards Moments, #6: Mary Chapin Carpenter’s Opening Act (1990)

By: Drew

Drew — Sun, 02 May 2010 14:07:41 +0000

A friend of mine who toured with MCC told me that Opening Act is about Dwight Yoakum. They did a tour of Europe together early in her career.

By: Leeann Ward

Leeann Ward — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 02:06:19 +0000

I’ve been curious.

By: Cory DeStein

Cory DeStein — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 01:46:25 +0000

Anyone ever curious who this was about?? I always thought Ricky Van Shelton possibly lol

By: dave

dave — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 06:27:16 +0000

I had heard there was no recording of this song. Then I ran across this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvPnNcOz64w

Enjoy!

By: Blake Boldt

Blake Boldt — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 18:05:55 +0000

At this time, no recorded version is available, Joe. Although it made an important impact on her career, Chapin always considered it just a witty little ditty, and has never released it on an album.

By: Joe

Joe — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 17:50:31 +0000

does anybody know if there is an audio version of this song available anywhere? I’ve always searched for one but never had any luck. To me, it’s just as great and clever as anything she ever released.

By: Chad

Chad — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 16:05:09 +0000

This reminds me of a couple of things…

First, I saw her several years ago at a small music hall here in Omaha when she was touring in support of “Between Here and Gone.” One thing that I love about MCC shows is that it never seems overly rehearsed or rigid. Both times I’ve seen her, she played songs people requested from the audience and didn’t seem stuck to a set list. There must have been someone down front begging for the “opening act” song but she said she couldn’t remember the words. She had someone backstage get online and look them up. A few songs later, she had the lyrics in front of her and gave it a whirl…a moment I’ll never forget :)

Also, like several other posts in this CMA review, it reminds me of when the CMAs let other people besides the top stars on the stage…oh for the “good old days”

By: Erik North

Erik North — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 14:40:17 +0000

Besides songwriting, I would suspect that one of the gifts that MCC showed in that song was clairvoyance, for she must have foreseen the enormous ego problems that would overtake certain artists, not just in the country music field but throughout the entire music industry as well. Befitting a left-of-center artist like herself who came from a folk music background, she did it all with a sardonic kind of humor not found all that much in country. I rather like that.