Comprehensive Mary Chapin Carpenter Discography

Page 1: Albums by Mary Chapin Carpenter

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News and Updates:

January 14, 2014 - Updated to include information about MCC's newest album, Songs from the Movie, along with a couple of recent various-artist compilations featuring non-album tracks by MCC.

May 25, 2012 - Updated with info about MCC's new album, Ashes and Roses

These are Mary Chapin Carpenter's full-length albums of original material. For listings of compilations of previously-released material, appearances on collections of various artists, or appearances on albums by other artists, click on the appropriate link above.

This page last updated on 7/14/2010

Hometown Girl (1987)
Original LP cover: CBS/Columbia Records, BFC 40758 CD cover: CBS/Columbia Records, CK 40758	01. A Lot Like Me 02. Other Streets And Other Towns 03. Hometown Girl 04. Downtown Train 05. Family Hands 06. A Road Is Just A Road 07. Come On Home 08. Waltz 09. Just Because 10. Heroes And Heroines	MCC's first album is basically her demo tape -- John Jennings had produced it for her and she was shopping it around to record labels. CBS Records heard it, signed her to a contract, and released the album pretty much as-is, with only the addition of one new song ("Come on Home"). Although the record and the CD had different covers, the music on both is identical. The record also had an inner sleeve containing musician credits and lyrics, while the CD does not have that information. The 2007 budget-priced re-release of the CD has the original LP cover.	Buy from Amazon:

State of the Heart (1989)
CBS/Columbia Records, CK 44228	01. How Do 02. Something Of A Dreamer 03. Never Had It So Good 04. Read My Lips 05. This Shirt 06. Quittin' Time 07. Down In Mary's Land 08. Goodbye Again 09. Too Tired 10. Slow Country Dance 11. It Don't Bring You	MCC's second album was her first "major-label" production. It sounds slicker than Hometown Girl, but the style of songwriting remains similar. State of the Heart also received more promotion, and sold a lot more copies than her first album. A couple of the songs here, "This Shirt" and "Quittin' Time," remain all-time favorites and are still performed live quite frequently. MCC actually wrote "This Shirt" in 1987, but it wasn't recorded until after Hometown Girl was released.	Buy from Amazon:

Shooting Straight in the Dark (1990)
CBS/Columbia Records, CK 46077	01. Going Out Tonight 02. Right Now 03. More Things Change 04. When She's Gone 05. Middle Ground 06. Can't Take Love For Granted 07. Down At The Twist and Shout 08. Halley Came To Jackson 09. What You Didn't Say 10. You Win Again 11. Moon and St. Christopher	MCC's third album propelled her to country music superstardom. "Down at the Twist and Shout" (with a guest appearance from the Cajun group Beausoleil) won MCC her first Grammy award for Best Country Vocal Performance, Female. "Halley Came to Jackson" is based on an event from the life of writer Eudora Welty. A children's book based on the song was published in 1998, with illustrations by Dan Andreasen. The book is unfortunately out-of-print, but used copies should be available.	Buy the CD from Amazon: Buy the book:

Come On Come On (1992)
Sony Music/Columbia Records, CK 48881	01. The Hard Way 02. He Thinks He'll Keep Her 03. Rhythm Of The Blues 04. I Feel Lucky 05. The Bug 06. Not Too Much To Ask (duet with Joe Diffie) 07. Passionate Kisses 08. Only A Dream 09. I Am A Town 10. Walking Through Fire 11. I Take My Chances 12. Come On Come On	If Shooting Straight in the Dark made MCC a superstar, then Come On Come On made her a legend. The songwriting, production and performances come together to produce a truly great album. MCC won Best Country Performance, Female, Grammy awards two years in a row for this one -- in 1992 for "I Feel Lucky" and in 1993 for "Passionate Kisses."	Buy from Amazon:

Stones in the Road (1994)
Sony Music/Columbia Records, CK 64327	01. Why Walk When You Can Fly 02. House Of Cards 03. Stones In The Road 04. A Keeper For Every Flame 05. Tender When I Want To Be 06. Shut Up And Kiss Me 07. The Last Word 08. The End Of My Pirate Days 09. John Doe No. 24 10. Jubilee 11. Outside Looking In 12. Where Time Stands Still 13. This Is Love	Moving into the realm of sheer perfection, Stones in the Road takes the listener on a profound and moving journey. The album begins and ends with a solo piano playing the "Why Walk When You Can Fly" theme, perfectly bookending this widely-varied collection of songs. The album itself won a Grammy for Best Country Album, and the song "Shut Up and Kiss Me" also won MCC a Grammy for Best Country Performance, Female. Interestingly, this album is less "country" than her prior four albums, and it is the first album in which all the songs were written by her.	Buy from Amazon:

A Place in the World (1996)
Sony Music/Columbia Records, CK 67501	01. Keeping The Faith 02. Hero In Your Hometown 03. I Can See It Now 04. I Want To Be Your Girlfriend 05. Let Me Into Your Heart 06. What If We Went To Italy 07. That's Real 08. Ideas Are Like Stars 09. Naked To The Eye 10. Sudden Gift Of Fate 11. The Better To Dream Of You 12. A Place In The World	MCC followed up the huge success of Stones in the Road with this somewhat weak album in 1996. She admits that the production of this album was rushed (due to pressure from the record label), and therefore wasn't what she would have liked to have had released, and it shows. That's not to say that there aren't some excellent songs on it -- there are a few gems here. I particularly like "Naked to the Eye" and "A Place in the World." "I Want to Be Your Girlfriend" is truly fun, too, in a 1960's bubblegum sort of way. But overall it doesn't doesn't hold together as the coherent work of art that the previous album was.	Buy from Amazon:

Time * Sex * Love * (2001)
CD: Sony Music/Columbia Records, CK 85176 SACD: Sony Music/Columbia Records, CS 85176	01. Whenever You're Ready 02. Simple Life 03. Swept Away 04. Slave to the Beauty 05. Maybe World 06. What Was It Like 07. King of Love 08. This is Me Leaving You 09. Someone Else's Prayer 10. The Dreaming Road 11. Alone But Not Lonely 12. The Long Way Home 13. In the Name of Love 14. Late For Your Life Bonus Track: Going Home	After a five-year wait, MCC returned to the scene with her first new studio album of the 21st Century. And what an album it is! The title is short for: "Time Is the Great Gift; Sex Is the Great Equalizer; Love Is the Great Mystery." This big title hints at the grand scale of this album -- the ideas are big, and the production is big. It was recorded in London at Air Studios (where the Beatles recorded Rubber Soul, and (for the first time in her career) it was co-produced by someone other than John Jennings (it was co-produced by Blake Chancey). This album is held back from brilliance by getting a little bogged down in the middle; there are a few too many "downer" songs in there. But where it shines, it glows like the sun. "Whenever You're Ready" and "Slave to the Beauty" rank among MCC's best songs, and "The Long Way Home" and "Late for Your Life" are classic MCC. Many people have commented that the bonus track is the best one on the album: "Going Home" sounds like a jam session, and is fun and raw and closes the album perfectly. This album was originally released on CD, and a few months later a multichannel SACD version was released. The SACD contains a 5.1-channel mix in addition to a high-resolution stereo mix, but it is only playable on SACD-compatible equipment (it is not a hybrid disc). If you have SACD-compatible equipment, I would highly recommend the SACD version of the album, although there isn't anything on it that you don't find on the regular CD version.	Buy the CD from Amazon: Buy the SACD from Amazon:

Between Here and Gone (2004)
Sony Music/Columbia Records, CK 86619 Sony Music/Columbia Records, CK 92428 (with bonus CD) Sony Music/Columbia Records, CK 92429 (with bonus DVD)	01. What Would You Say To Me 02. Luna's Gone 03. My Heaven 04. Goodnight America 05. Between Here and Gone 06. One Small Heart 07. Beautiful Racket 08. Girls Like Me 09. River 10. Grand Central Station 11. Shelter of Storms 12. Elysium	After a slightly shorter interlude (only three years this time), MCC is back with an even better album than Time * Sex * Love *. Between Here and Gone tightens up the pacing a little better than its predecessor, and contains a slew of perfectly-crafted songs. Melodic, profound, fun, moving and downright breathtaking are words that come to mind to describe the songs on this album. For the MCC fanatic, this CD is available in three different forms. The regular CD is available everywhere, with the twelve tracks listed to the left. Available exclusively at Barnes & Noble stores is a version which contains a bonus audio disc. This disc contains three live recordings, recorded on the Singer/Songwriter tour of 2003, and features backing vocals by Shawn Colvin, Patty Griffin and Dar Williams. These tracks are: I Still Miss Someone This Shirt Late For Your Life Available exclusively at Borders stores is a version with a bonus DVD. The DVD contains music videos for: Down at the Twist and Shout I Feel Lucky Shut Up and Kiss Me The Better to Dream of You Almost Home Both the Barnes & Noble and Borders editions are limited edition releases, and may be out-of-print by now, but you should check at your local store for availability.	Buy from Amazon: Buy the bonus CD version from a third-party seller: (You may want to check with the seller to make sure you're getting the version you want.)

The Calling (2007)
Zoe Records 01143-1111-2	01. The Calling 02. We're All Right 03. Twilight 04. It Must Have Happened 05. On and On It Goes 06. Your Life Story 07. Houston 08. Leaving Song 09. On With the Song 10. Closer and Closer Apart 11. Here I Am 12. Why Shouldn't We 13. Bright Morning Star	This is MCC's first album on a new label, Zoe Records. While it is a move away from her major label, stylistically it sounds much like Between Here and Gone. Powerful, intelligent, both humorous and moving, this album continues her 21st-century move away from radio-friendly country music toward intellectual, thought-provocing folky-singer-songwriter music.	Buy from Amazon:

Come Darkness, Come Light: Twelve Songs of Christmas (2008)
Zoe Records, 01143-1123-2	01. Once In Royal David's City 02. Hot Buttered Rum 03. Still, Still, Still 04. On a Quiet Christmas Morn 05. Come Darkness, Come Light 06. Christmas Time In the City 07. Candlelight Carol 08. The Longest Night of the Year 09. Thanksgiving Song 10. Bells Are Ringing 11. Christmas Carol 12. Children, Go Where I Send Thee	MCC's first holiday album is designed to be a non-traditional Christmas album, made up of original songs, songs by other contemporary singer-songwriters, and less-often-recorded traditional songs. MCC's original songs are: "Come Darkness, Come Light," "Christmastime In the City," "The Longest Night of the Year," "Thanksgiving Song," "Bells are Ringing" and "Christmas Carol." Tommy Thompson wrote "Hot Buttered Rum," Robin and Linda Williams wrote "On a Quiet Christmas Morn," and John Rutter wrote "Candlelight Carol." The remaining songs fall into the category of "traditional" Christmas music. While most MCC fans will recognize the titles "Christmas Time In the City" and "Bells Are Ringing," these are new, more acoustic versions of the songs, not the original versions released a number of years ago. "Christmas Time in the City" has several changes in the lyrics as well. Also, there's a bonus track available from the iTunes store. You can download "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" there as an individual track or with the entire album.	Buy from Amazon:

The Age of Miracles (2010)
Zoe Records, 01143-1137-2	01. We Traveled So Far 02. Zephyr 03. I Put My Ring Back On 04. Holding Up the Sky 05. 4 June 1989 06. I Was a Bird 07. Mrs. Hemingway 08. I Have a Need for Solitude 09. What You Look For 10. Iceland 11. The Age of Miracles 12. The Way I Feel 13. All the Sad Songs (bonus track on Barnes & Noble CD edition) 13. The Edge of the World (bonus track on Amazon MP3 edition) 13. This Is Home (bonus track on iTunes edition)	The Age of Miracles is a studio album of all-new material. The standard version of the album contains 12 tracks, but the Barnes & Noble, Amazon MP3 and iTunes editions of the album each contain a different bonus track not found elsewhere. Unfortunately, the bonus tracks cannot be downloaded individually - you have to purchase the complete album in order to get the bonus tracks...	Buy from Amazon: Buy the B&N; version from a third-party seller: Buy the download from Amazon:

The Ashes and Roses (2012)
Zoe Records,	01. Transcendental Reunion 02. What to Keep and What to Throw Away 03. The Swords We Carried 04. Another Home 05. Chasing What's Already Gone 06. Learning the World 07. I Tried Going West 08. Don't Need Much to Be Happy 09. Soul Companion 10. Old Love 11. New Years Day 12. Fading Away 13. Jericho 14. The One Who's Not Enough (bonus track on Barnes & Noble CD edition)	This album consists of all-new material. As has been the case with previous albums, there's a Barnes & Noble exclusive edition with a bonus track.	Buy from Amazon:

Songs from the Movie (2014)
Zoe Records,	01. On and On It Goes 02. I Am a Town 03. Between Here and Gone 04. Ideas Are Like Stars 05. The Dreaming Road 06. Only a Dream 07. Come On Come On 08. Mrs. Hemingway 09. Where Time Stands Still 10. Goodnight America	MCC's newest studio album is a collection of newly-recorded versions of various songs with full orchestral accompaniment. Contrary to what the title of the album might indicate, it is not a compilation of songs from movie soundtracks, but rather reimaginings of her own songs, drawing inspiration from great orchestral film scores and songs from motion pictures. All of the songs on this album are new versions of songs she has released before -- not reworkings or remixes of old songs, but rather entirely new recordings.	Buy from Amazon:

Go to:
Compilation albums
Various Artist collections
Guest Appearances
Singles & EPs
Promotional Items
Videos
Other

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