Mary Chapin Carpenter - Between Here And Gone

If Mary Chapin Carpenter had come up in an earlier musical era, she would have been part of the 1970s singer/songwriter movement a la James Taylor, Carly Simon, etc. However, the '80s and '90s found traditional songwriting values more welcome under the contemporary-country umbrella, and that's where Carpenter has blossomed.

Recorded at The Sound Kithchen and Sound Stage, Nashville between August and December 2003, there's probably as much twang on Between Here And Gone as on most other early-2000s country albums.

More full of introspective ballads that mix pithy lyrical observations with an organic, acoustic/electric Americana feel, the album presents a thoughtful woman with as many worries in her life as joys, alternately mourning death (the title track) and celebrating life (Beautiful Racket).

Whether her sound is more at home in Nashville or New York is entirely up to the listener.

• What Would You Say To Me
• Luna's Gone
• My Heaven
• Goodnight America
• Between Here And Gone
• One Small Heart
• Beautiful Racket
• Girls Like Me
• River
• Grand Central Station
• Shelter Of Storms
• Elysium