Mary Chapin Carpenter: The Calling
Label: Zoe/Rounder
Sound/Style: lyric-driven folk and even-keeled adult rock

UMC.org—Mary Chapin Carpenter is highly regarded for her songwriting skill as well as the string of memorable country hits she scored in the 1990s. Today she’s less a presence in contemporary country than an honorably discharged member of the commercial music-making brigade. Her intelligently written and sometimes pointedly liberal songs make her something of a Nashville exile, not unlike The Dixie Chicks (though their discharge, unlike Carpenter’s, was fraught with controversy). However, Carpenter has leapt into the fray surrounding the Chicks’ fall from the country nest. On her new album, The Calling, she rails against conservative America in "On With The Song," a number she dedicates to The Dixie Chicks. Her politically charged lyrics position non-conservatives as somehow smarter than the rest, risking hypocrisy by criticizing the free expression of people with whom the singer disagrees: "This isn’t for the ones who blindly follow/ Jingoistic bumper stickers telling you/ To love it or leave it, and you’d better love Jesus/ And get out of the way of the red, white and blue."

She does attempt to make nice and to summon a spirit of unity on "Why Shouldn’t We," which celebrates our shared freedom to reach toward lofty goals. But the song can easily create division between followers of the divergent faiths that Carpenter collates into an all-inclusive theology.

"We believe in peace within every heart/ Why shouldn’t we, why shouldn’t we/ Burning brightly, brightly in the dark/ Why shouldn’t we, why shouldn’t we/ So come on darling, feel your spirits rise/ Come on children, open up your eyes/ God is all around/ Buddha’s at the gate/ Allah hears your prayers/ It’s not too late."

"The Calling," built on a buoyant and inspiring guitar figure, cogitates on personal destiny while touching upon the spiritual mystery of a Creator who seeks us out according to His unknowable timing. Carpenter allows that this could be Jesus, Genius, or a genie and seemingly chides those who strain to hear supernatural guidance or worse, believe they already know God’s will: "There are zealots and preachers and readers of dreams/ The righteous yell loudest and the saved rise to sing/ The lonely and lost are just waiting to hear/ Any moment their purpose will be perfectly clear."

She speaks of grace but doesn’t call it by that name on the uptempo "It Must Have Happened," a song about how a series of unconscious moments can lead us to unearned rewards: "Can’t remember looking for omens/ Hoping there was going to be a sign/ I can’t remember figuring out/ The secret was inside me all the time/ I can’t remember walking without fear/ Towards the light you shined/ But it must have happened/ It must have happened."

The track, one of several chunky, guitar-fueled rockers, delivers a welcome punch, as Carpenter’s soothing and meditative alto remains in low gear throughout the record, making for few emotional peaks. This vocal approach serves her well, though, on her middle-aged romantic ruminations and on the aching "Houston," a story of displaced hurricane refugees that hits home for former residents of flood-torn Louisiana. The inclusion of these characters leaves a messy question, though, in light of the album’s earlier implications that fate has our best interests in mind. She partly reconciles this on "Leaving Song," which uncovers the bittersweet blessings of starting over: "And the three greatest gifts of moving on/ Are forgiveness, hope and the great beyond/ After that perhaps peace can come/ Peace will come."

Carpenter’s wish to encourage and inspire is clear on The Calling, a predictable but well-wrought piece of work. Unfortunately, conservatives aren’t likely to find it an equal opportunity listening experience.

UMC.org Music Review