Twist and Shout

Friday night we enjoyed a great evening of music and fun during Mary Chapin Carpenter's performance at the Shenandoah Valley Music Festival. The festival is a Valley gem in the beautiful village of Orkney Springs that features many fine artists bringing life to their slogan, We didn't invent summer - just the finest way to enjoy it.

Mary Chapin Carpenter and her fine band performed a number of songs off her new recording, The Age of Miracles, as well as old favorites such as Passionate Kisses and I Feel Lucky. Carpenter, who lives in Albemarle County, Virginia, connected with the audience by telling stories and explaining the origin of lyrics of songs such as Mrs. Hemingway, which she researched and wrote after rereading Ernest Hemingway's, A Moveable Feast. Along the way, she got in swipes at Verizon for the slow internet in her part of Virginia and at the right wing politics of Sarah Palin. Those brought a couple reactions - both cheers and jeers - from the audience. But hey, it was her stage and her mic... and her views were dead on.

Carpenter put in a big plug for Huss & Dalton of Staunton, Virginia. She owns three of what she proclaimed the "finest guitars in the world."

The opening act was Catie Curtis, a musician I'd heard of but wasn't very familiar with her work. The Boston area singer/songwriter put on an impressive performance that I wish had included more songs off her latest project, Hello Stranger.

For an encore, Carpenter and her band charged through a high energy performance of Down at the Twist and Shout, a song she played at Super Bowl XXXI. In the clip below, Carpenter sings the crowd favorite accompanied by the Cajun band BeauSoleil.