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.
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