Sometimes Just the Sky

This album is a remake of some of Mary's hits. They are performed differently then the originals, and I just love the arrangements, her voice, and the feeling that comes thru. The album is exquisite! I especially love "The Moon and St. Christopher", and "Heroes and Heroines". I couldn't expect anything more from Mary Chapin Carpenter - she's absolutely performs these songs on another level!

So glad to hear new music from you! I've missed your beautiful voice! Thanks this is just what I needed! Have missed seeing you at Telluride Bluegrass Festival (where we met years ago).

I have been a HUGE fan of MCC for over 25 years. With this album, she's taken some of her best work and reduced it to a lifeless, snoozefest. I am looking forward to her new album with new, original works, but this anniversary tribute is so blah, I wish I could return it.

I want to see her do a tribute to Harry Chapin, too

I would like to see her record a tribute to her late cousin “5” times removed Harry

beautiful! Words... lyrics.... I am transported.... unique!

For 30 years her music has been on my "top 5 things to take to a desert island" list. The richness of her writing transports, her observations about life and love are never trite or cliche, and she doesnt shy away from what life can throw at you. Instead she stitches it all together into a quilt of truth and hangs it over the fence for every passer by to see. MCC "out lyrics" the lyric master, Joni Mitchell- and I love them both. I dont need a video- Mary Chapin's words turn on the 8mm camera in my mind. I see the kittens on the shirt, I see the 1948 sienna photograph. I hear the groan of the stairs in the childhood home and smell the lawn where her brother swings her round and round. I've felt that road rise up before me and I've tried to bring down that moon. I hear the clarinet and smell the sprig of crepe jasmine. I've made that four- in- the - morning drive through the streets of town. During my own nasty break ups I've stolen Mary's lines for effect: " I just want a place to call my own, where you have never been!!" In my suburb now I " hear children's voices peal over and under the air" on warm summer evenings- and think of that song. I saw MCC perform with Shawn C. a few years back. As they took the stage I could actually smell the rich wood of her guitar. I knew a similar richness of voice, tone, melody, and word would follow. It was a "god , I'm happy to be alive " moment. MCC wrote this lyric: " the world is kinder to the kind who won't look back." I'm glad she's still here, still looking back, and still shaping music for us to enjoy. Most songwriters hope for at least one special line that sets the song apart. Mary Chapin's songs have entire stanzas of "wow!" Were she a novelist, her books would be worn and dog- eared, with underlined and high- lighted pages, margins full of notes; coffee stained, tear stained and seldom loaned, for fear they would not make it back to the bedside table. And ultimately they would always be on the desert island packing list. Congratulations on the new album!

NewSongslistento

What can I say, another wonderful collection of songs from Mary Chapin Carpenter. My advice is to make your favorite hot drink, go out to your porch and play this CD. In a world that is so rushed and hurried, it is so nice to have Mary Chapin Carpenter sing for us. ❤️

Back in 2014, I wrote that familiar songs take on new meaning with the passage of time. With this new offering, I know these songs. I remember seeing the video for This Shirt on CMT. I remember driving narrow Rt. 63 in upstate NY and humming The Moon & St. Christopher. I was there when Mary Chapin sang Naked To The Eye at the then-Paramount Theater at Madison Square Garden. So much time passed. Lives lived. As i hear these songs again, I am taken back to those memories. But it's 2018 and memories are always filtered by who we are today. Isn't there a line from Soul Companion about "my dog-eared maps to study and fold?" I keep all of these songs--and memories--close in my pocket. They make me smile. They comfort me. And they steady me in the face of 2018. As Mary Chapin looks back over 30 years, know that all of us have been along for the ride, been part of the "movie," have kept pace with the growing, and can't wait for the next song, the next memory.