I first discovered Mary Chapin Carpenter on a TV special featuring MCC, Nanci Griffith and Rosanne Cash just sat on stage armed only with their acoustic guitars [Can someone PLEASE put this on YouTube!] I saw it around the time Griffith's Little Love Affairs album came out I think.
Up until this point I had no idea who MCC was. What I saw however was an artist with a sly smile, a great sense of humour and some great songs. The version of 'The Moon and Saint Christopher' on this show remains one of my all time favourite recordings (as whilst a great song, the original album version - Shooting Straight In The Dark - arrangement does not do the song justice)
Anyway, from that point on, I was a fan. Great album after great album followed and then came 2004's Between Here and Gone. I just couldn't buy this record. It failed to grab me at all, and I had to face the fact that MMC may join the ranks of those artists I once loved but whose new material I may never buy again.
But, now we have 'The Calling' and I am pleased to say this is MCC back close to her best. It gets off the great start with the title track and bar a few miss-hits along the way delivers the goods especially on stand out track Houston which deals with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina "Mama’s got her baby sleeping in a grocery cart / Daddy’s eyes are hazy wondering where they are / Waiting for the buses waiting on some providence/ once we get to Houston maybe it will all make sense"
Also worthy of note is: On With The Song (dedicated to the Dixie Chicks) "This isn't for the man who can't count the bodies/can't comfort the families, can't say when he's wrong/claiming I'm the decider, like some messiah/while another day passes and a hundred souls gone"
Twightlight and Why Shouldn't We and It Must Have Happened are among other strong songs on this record.
A welcome return to form.