Mary Chapin Carpenter Plays Michigan Theater

September 20, 2023

Part way into the pandemic in 2020, Mary Chapin Carpenter wanted to find ways to stay creative, connect with fans and get some music out into the world at a time when concerts weren’t happening and albums were being put on hold.

One way she accomplished this goal was with her “Songs from Home” series, in which she filmed solo performances from her kitchen of songs from her catalog and by other artists – sometimes with guest appearances by her golden retriever and “producer” Angus, and her cat, White Kitty. Every week or so, fans could tune in online and see a fresh performance of a song.

It was all quite casual, fun and genuine, and gave fans a bit of a window into Carpenter’s world at home.

Another project meant to provide some solace and entertainment during the pandemic, however, was not so spontaneous or modestly produced.

In November 2020, Carpenter and a crew, while carefully following protocols to avoid getting infected with COVID, filmed an entire concert at one of Carpenter’s favorite venues, the Wolf Trap’s Filene Center in Vienna, VA. That show has now been released on DVD and CD and titled “One Night Lonely.”

At 26 songs, it’s a generous set that encompasses nearly the entirety of Carpenter’s three-decade-plus career. It also presents her music in a format she had yet to represent on her albums – solo acoustic with no audience so the show could be a document on the pandemic times.

Carpenter has played solo concerts over the years and often has included solo acoustic segments in shows she performs with a band. But the Filene Center performance was a unique experience, she said in a phone interview.

“It felt very weird on the one hand, but also there was a comfort in doing it because that’s what I’ve been doing for so many years,” she said. “Also, I was really just determined to get through it. There were no retakes, it was all live. There’s nothing spliced together (afterward). It was from the first song to the last song. And I remember, as I was playing the last song, the weight of it felt, my God, I’ve been up here for two hours plus or whatever. It was exhausting in the moment, but at the same time, it was getting very, very cold on stage. I could see my breath on the last couple of songs and my hands were getting cold and fingers were freezing. It was an unusual experience all the way through. But at the same time, it felt just very magical, and all of the people who were a part of the production and had worked so hard to pull it off, everyone just stayed safe and no one got sick. That was really gratifying.”

A five-time Grammy winner who has sold a combined 12 million albums, Carpenter, 65, debuted on the national scene with her 1987 album “Hometown Girl.”

Early on, her label, Columbia Records, marketed Carpenter as a country artist, even though her music also had elements of folk, rock and pop. That said, the plan worked.

Her third album, 1990’s “Shooting Straight in the Dark,” gave her a breakthrough country hit with “Down at the Twist and Shout,” and then the follow-up album, “Come On Come On,” made Carpenter a major star. The album spawned four top 10 country hits — “Passionate Kisses” (a Lucinda Williams song), “I Feel Lucky,” “He Think He’ll Keep Her” and “I Take My Chances” on the way to going quadruple platinum.

Carpenter’s next album, “Stones in the Road,” was another hit and featured her first chart-topping country single, “Shut Up and Kiss Me.”

Since then, Carpenter has maintained the quality of her songwriting, while crafting a more ballad-oriented sound on her eight subsequent studio albums. The hit singles have dried up, but Carpenter remains a popular concert draw.

“The Dirt and the Stars,” Carpenter’s most recent studio album, is well represented on “One Night Lonely,” as she performs the songs “All Broken Hearts Break Differently,” “Traveler’s Prayer,” the title cut and “Farther Along and Further In” (the latter being the song that opens “The Dirt and the Stars” and sets for tone for the album).

This summer’s tour will give Carpenter opportunities to showcase songs from “The Dirt and the Stars” in a full-band setting. She was set to tour in 2021 with Shawn Colvin before a shoulder injury forced her to drop out of the tour. But after some extensive physical therapy, she returned to touring last summer with an extensive outing.

Exactly what songs fans will hear on a given night this summer will vary, as Carpenter plans to change up her set list from show to show.

“We’ll move the pieces around like a chess board and fiddle with it, you know, for nearly every night. I’m sort of changing things around,” she said. “There’s just not enough time (in a show) to play all of the songs I want to play. I guess that at this point in my life, it’s something to be happy about instead of feeling like it’s a detriment.”

Carpenter will be playing at the Michigan Theater on Oct. 10.