The Calling
 | Zoe Records, 2007, Audio CD Customer Rating: 79 reviews Recommend |
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As a songwriter and performer, Mary Chapin Carpenter has long since transcended the traditional notions of genre and style, finding widespread acclaim for her poetic, elegantly - observed compositions. The Calling, her first release for Zoë/Rounder, is the most topical album she's made in her twenty-year career. While it unequivocally addresses issues both public and political - from the after-effects of Hurricane Katrina to religious zealotry to the trial-by-radio of the Dixie Chicks — there is also something deeply personal about this extraordinary collection of songs. The album is a powerful, provocative meditation on the mysteries of fate and circumstance, which mingles timeless questions with contemporary issues. Introspective, defiant and deeply resonant, The Calling is a profound set from one of modern songwriting's most distinctive voices.
Featuring "It Must Have Happened," "We're All Right," and "On with the Song."
In recent years, Mary Chapin Carpenter — once among the most promising stars of the folkie infiltration of Nashville ("Down at the Twist and Shout," "I Feel Lucky") — abandoned all desire to dot the country music charts. Free of that ill-fitting yoke she returned to being what she really was all along: A literate acoustic singer-songwriter. In 2004, she released a tour de force, Between Here and Gone, which combined affecting social commentary on the events of 9/11 with personal meditations on her changed life as a married woman living in rural Virginia. The Calling picks up where that album left off, using the same co-producer, pianist Matt Rollings, and core musicians, including John Jennings, who helped Carpenter shape her sonic landscape some 20 years ago. If the new album goes farther in advocating a political conscience — "On with the Song" takes jabs at the jingoistic rubes who dissed the Dixie Chicks, while "Why Shouldn't We" insists we'll have worthy heroes in office again one day — it largely invokes the same quiet, warm, and conversational tone as its predecessor. On the whisper-soft "Twilight," which frames a perfect, peaceful evening with a nearly spiritual grace, a listener might easily imagine himself chatting with the artist about long-held secrets and shared experiences, the Blue Ridge Mountains looming in the background. That is part of Carpenter’s gift — connecting with her audience's shadow self, using her deeply nuanced alto to fill even the simplest words with profound knowing. As a pure craftsman, however, she ranks with the giants of past generations in capturing the small, bruised hearts seemingly lost in the chaos of a catastrophic event. "Houston," one such song here, recalls Woody Guthrie's great "Deportee" in its power and the pathos of the Hurricane Katrina victims who were forced to evacuate their homes, leaving everything behind but fear and hope. "Mama's got her baby/Sleeping in a grocery cart," it begins, at once setting up a picture of wrenching desperation. Carpenter, no stranger to blue moods herself, knows how tough it is to emerge from a dark period of pained restlessness to find one's very self again. The album's soothing closer, "Bright Morning Star," like much of the record as a whole, offers a beacon of light and safe harbor for those shipwrecked on life's rocky shores. — Alanna Nash
- Calling
- We're All Right
- Twilight
- It Must Have Happened
- On and on It Goes
- Your Life Story
- Houston
- Leaving Song
- On with the Song
- Closer and Closer Apart
- Here I Am
- Why Shouldn't We
- Bright Morning Star
Title: The Calling
Sales Rank: 10529 in Music
Artist: Mary Chapin Carpenter
Label: Zoe Records, 2007-03-06, Audio CD, 1 Disc
Item Dimensions: 0.22 pounds
Package Dimensions: 5.51 x 4.96 x 0.39 inches, 0.09 pounds
- Words and Music to Inspire
- I first really listened to Carpenter's music when I heard "Closer and Closer Apart" used as poignant background music for an episode in the television series "In Plain Sight." I had to have this magnificent song, and, of course, my pursuit led me to "The Calling." What a wonderful album. Carpenter's lyrics are so well crafted and so inspiring, I can not stop playing several of the… More reviews
- Thanks for sharing your political views.
- Unlike the reviewer Gilchrist, I'm glad artists like Carpenter, Springsteen, The Dixie Chicks and many others aren't shy about sharing their political views. Those who want to control our speech and political perspectives would prefer that people just ignore politics, or advance a politics of happy talk and god-blessing ourselves. Fortunately, most people refuse… More reviews
- Keep your political views to yourself
- OK, I've been a MCC fan-have most of her stuff, and once again, just like all of the other media-induced biased robots from Hollywood to New York-continue jumping on the bandwagon of the loud-mouths to judge and point fingers, when most of those people do not have the first sense or clue of the issues, or how we get to where we are at any given… More reviews
- Better when she doesn't try to preach politics.
- I like it better when an artist doesn't try to tell me how right thier way of thinking is and how wrong any other political view has to be. I mean they should just stick to entertaining since none of them are smart enough to do more than that.
That aside this is just okay music compared to much of her other work. If you happen… More reviews
- BEST MCC YET ,SHE'S MATURED LIKE A FINE WINE!
- This album is her best yet. If you're looking for some of her more hook heavy styled songs like ,SHUT UP&KISS ME ,I FEEL LUCKY& PASSIONET KISSES,this may not be the album for you.If you're looking for songs with depth, passion and strong lyrical and musical content,BUY IT! She has come a long way since her early… More reviews
