Mary Chapin Carpenter (Photo by Aaron Farrington)
Two of the greatest Americana singer-songwriters of all time got their start in the District of Columbia: Mary Chapin Carpenter and Emmylou Harris! And the two now perform together at Wolf Trap on Saturday, Aug. 27.
Beloved singer/songwriter Mary Chapin Carpenter considers herself a Hometown Girl, having called the Washington area home for nearly 30 years. In 2020, Mary released The Dirt and the Stars, her 16th studio album, via Lambent Light Records.
Produced by Ethan Johns (Ray LaMontagne, Paul McCartney, Kings of Leon) and recorded entirely live at Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios in Bath, in southwest England, the album finds the 5-time GRAMMY Award-winning singer-songwriter pondering life’s intimate, personal moments and exploring its most universally challenging questions at an unprecedented time. Written at her rural Virginia farmhouse before stay-at-home orders became the “new normal,” the songs celebrate invaluable experiences and irreplaceable wisdom, while also advocating exploration of the best in all of us.
Stream “Between the Dirt and the Stars” by Mary Chapin Carpenter on YouTube:
Carpenter is joined by Emmylou Harris, “one of music’s most revered voices” (The Guardian). Harris has collaborated with everyone from Dolly Parton to Bright Eyes across her 50-year career but she cut her teeth in DC’s club scene.
Last year, Emmylou Harris and The Nash Ramblers released Ramble in Music City: The Lost Concert via Nonesuch Records. The album features the 1990 Nashville debut of the acoustic all-star group — Sam Bush, Roy Huskey Jr., Larry Atamanuik, Al Perkins, Jon Randall Stewart — at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center. The concert was recorded and shelved until now, when it’s been unearthed and will be released for the first time.
Watch Emmylou Harris and The Nash Ramblers perform “Hello Stranger” on Austin City Limits in 1993 via YouTube:
Mary Chapin Carpenter
Emmylou Harris
Wolf Trap
Saturday, Aug. 27
Gates @ 5:30pm
$40
All ages