Mary Chapin Carpenter's first album of new material in three years has been hailed as a fine example of pop music for adults. This is both true and misleading. In changing producers (from John Jennings to celebrated piano man Matt Rollings), the literate singer-songwriter has slightly broadened her sophisticated Americana sound, and although it's less rhythmic as a whole, her acoustic-folkie approach remains at the core of her classic style. And while "Between Here and Gone"--which addresses the theme of travel and transition, the fragility of life, and the ephemeral nature of happiness--might be said to concern itself with grown-up issues, most of Carpenter's writing has always done just that. Yet this stunning album, informed both by her 2002 marriage ("Elysium," "River") and by the events of 9/11, is more introspective than much of her early work. The alto-voiced singer is compelling throughout, but never so much as on "My Heaven," inspired by Alice Sebold's novel, The Lovely Bones, or on "Grand Central Station," in which a New York City ironworker, standing on the bucket brigade at Ground Zero, hears the voices of the dead, desperate to find their way home. In moments such as these, Carpenter reestablishes herself not only as a world-class poet, but as an artist of the first order. --Alanna Nash

Genre:

• Country & Bluegrass

Product Groupings:

• Clearance CDs

Product Series:

• Bargain Audio CDs & Priceless Collection