Review by Amy Blizzard

In her new album The Age of Miracles, Mary Chapin Carpenter opens up her soul and showcases a shameless vulnerability while traveling through the peaks and valleys of personal exploration. Back in the summer of 2007, the song-writing process began for the new release after Carpenter was diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism that brought an immediate halt to all of her touring and performing plans for a year.

To pass time during the lengthy recovery, she engrossed herself in the writing process and drew inspiration from the myriad of phases in life and how they can vary and transfrom from person-to-person. While focusing on deep personal reflection for The Age of Miracles to pen lyrics that at times

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sound like poetic journal entries and prose during ‘We Have Traveled So Far’ and ‘I Have a Need For Solitude’;  Carpenter also invoked a polarizing challenge and drifted away from herself and fearlessly attempted to slip into the minds and thought processes of others.

Through that empathic gesture, she created ‘Mrs. Hemingway’ and ‘4 June 1989.’ While innately obscure, the songs are two of the album’s strongest and most creative pieces. Carpenter sings hauntingly through the voice of Ernest Hemingway’s first wife on the dawn of their relationship falling into shambles. Then, she spins a different take on the historic protest in Tienanmen Square, told through the eyes of a young solider.

She also tackles more traditional themes such as relationships, love and marriage in ‘The Way I Feel’ and ‘I Put My Ring Back On’ (with backing vocals from Vince Gill), which pay homage to her mainstream country days. Bluegrass favorite Alison Krauss also joins in on the more subdued ‘I Was a Bird’.

Overall, ‘The Age of Miracles’ is a musical piece of art.  Mary Chapin Carpenter bravely steps away from the pressures of commericalism that frequently embrace quantity over quality and instead aims to create an album encapsulated with cumbersome ballads sprinkled with an underlining layer of hope, rich vocals that are pleasant and comforting and a collection of literary-based lyrics that highlight the deft artistry and unique prowess she possesses as a world-reknown songwriter.

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The Age Of Miracles Tracklisting

• 1 We Traveled So Far
  2 Zephyr
  3 I Put My Ring Back On
  4 Holding Up The Sky
  5 4 June 1989
  6 I Was A Bird
  7 Mrs. Hemingway
  8 I Have A Need For Solitude
  9 What You Look For
  10 Iceland
  11 The Age Of Miracles
  12 The Way I Feel