Bells Are Ringing

Merry Christmas, everyone! (I didn't make this video but I love the song - from Mary Chapin Carpenter's Christmas album which is AWESOME).

Loveliness from Mary Chapin

I love this tune!

Hurricane Party

Well, something's blowing in from the south: In the spirit of Mary Chapin Carpenter's line from "Down at the Twist and Shout" -- "they have a hurricane party every time it blows" -- my buddy Katie and I are going to hunker down with some hummus, Diet Coke, and blank t-shirts and Sharpies. See, I decided that being on tour as a Merch Girl for 2.5 weeks...well, no one wants me to wear the same Susan t-shirt every night. No one wants that...probably especially Susan because she sits in the van with me. So Katie and I have been coming up with clever things worthy of a t-shirt. I'll share what we come up with later, but one of Katie's suggestions was "Merch Girls Do It On the Bar." Oh my.

I love this song.

Stones in the Road - Mary Chapin Carpenter.

Wowsers for Mary Chapin Carpenter

You've all heard me gush poetic about Mary Chapin Carpenter, one of the main reasons I picked up a guitar in the first place. Some argue that her rise of fame in the country music market was a weird abberation. All I know is that if I had looked to other popular people as mentors in the mid-90's when I was just starting to be curious about music, I might have picked up a karaoke mic and be hitting the American Idol auditions now. (Not that there's anything wrong with that). But anyway...over on Country Universe, one of the blogs I read to keep up on all things Nashville, there's a series being posted about the 100 Greatest Women in Country Music. While entirely subjective (the joys of blogging), the list is great so far and it's been a joy to read. I knew MCC would probably rank pretty high...and she came in at No. 29 today. While reading the article, none of the information was very new to me...except to see it all spelled out at once made me realize what a formindable career MCC has had. Check it out: - 10 albums over 20 years - The tune Down at the Twist and Shout in 1991..."earned her the first of five Grammys...beginning a historically unprecedented domination of the Best Female Country Vocal Performance category, which she would win four years in a row." - In 1992 the album Come On Come On "would bring Carpenter to the peak of her popularity. It spawned a stunning seven hit singles, practically unheard of at that time." - He Thinks He'll Keep Her (my gateway drug song to MCC's music) brought about Chapin being the "first country artist nominated for Grammy’s Record of the Year for a non-crossover hit." - In 1995 , "the Best Country Album category was reestablished after a thirty-year absence, and Stones in the Road was the winner." It was double platinum by then and Chapin's first that was entirely self-penned...no co-writers. Wow. Wow! Now, we all know a career is not summed up in Grammy awards (although I have cleared a place on my cherry-colored particle-board bookcase should the moment ever arise), but Mary Chapin was breaking down barriers left and right as a woman and a songwriter in this genre. And she made a huge difference for a lot of people...when I was but a wee wannabe chordist...I heard intelligent, smart tunes and you had better believe I was paying attention to the fact that Chapin was writing them herself and playing them herself. Makes a big difference. There's my Sunday warm fuzzy. Thanks, Mary Chapin. If you squint, you will note MCC in the middle and me to the immediate left backstage at a concert in Atlanta in 2005. Surrounded by a bunch of fun people decked out in flamingo garb. This is probably a long story for another time, but it was dang amazing.

Congrats, Mary Chapin!

I had a weird inkling today, when I remembered that the Grammy nominations were out. So after a good hour of trying to get to Grammy.com (I guess everyone wanted the nomination haps)...I finally cruise over to the "Folk " category and what do I see under "Best Contemporary Folk Album" but... "The Calling." Pretty much...yes. I remember back in the day (like 1995) when Mary Chapin Carpenter rocked the Grammy's with "Stones in the Road" in the country category and even got nominated for Album of the Year (I think it was that...or Record of the Year, one of the two...she was up against Bob Dylan is all I recall and that impressed me). It's awesome and amazing that 13 years later, she's making great art and still getting recognized for it. I feel like she's more at home in the Folk category than she ever was in the Country vein, but that's just evolution. Stiff competition, too -- Steve Earle and Patty Griffin among them. It was a good music year. I sense a "best of" blog post coming on.

MCC On Writing: "Wait."

There is an excellent interview with Mary Chapin Carpenter in the November issue of Acoustic Guitar magazine (we haven't even lived October yet!). Happy Birthday to me. :) Anyway, it's brilliant. (Have I mentioned MCC is brilliant?) Some key thoughts from the interview. When asked if songs are hard to write, Chapin replies, "I don’t think of songs as being hard to write. It’s a process, and every song requires dedication, emotion, and inspiration. Some songs really do drop out of the sky, as Bill Monroe used to say, and others are a little harder to get to. But if you’re lucky enough, you get a keeper, and it ends up sticking around." The follow-up question is: if you only have the first half of a song, what do you do? "Wait. ...to paraphrase the artist Helen Frankenthaler, the harder you try to get at something, the more elusive it becomes. So if you have half a song and it means something to you, and you believe in it, then you’re going to wait until the other half comes along." Oh. It is true. Some songs are hard-won, and that's ok. Rose Tremain said in her Writer's Room profile that, "All writers spend great drifts of time staring into space - a habit not tolerated easily by those who aren't writers." That's the waiting. I am still trying to be at peace with the waiting. I think it's a habit to cultivate in a lot of areas of our lives. We wait, things come. We just have to wait with intention and direction.