Personal History (Lambent Light/Thirty Tiger, 2025)

Mary Chapin Carpenter returns with "Personal History," her first studio album of all-new material since 2020's brilliant "The Dirt and the Stars." As with that album, she records the new record - her 17th studio release - entirely live at Peter Gabriel's Real World Studios in Bath, England. This time, Josh Kaufman of Bonnie Light Horseman produced. He also produced the Mary Chapin Carpenter, Julie Fowlis, Karine Polwart collaboration "Looking For The Thread," out earlier this year.

>The title gives away the subject: deep autobiographical songs sung in Carpenter's signature soft-spoken, half-whispering voice, dripping with intimacy. At times, it's as if you're listening to a friend confess about their thoughts in your living room.

The production values, as usual, are superb, and the instruments frame her vocals beautifully. Many of the musicians were aboard on "Dirt and the Stars." Matt Rollings (piano, Hammond organ, Phillips organ, accordion, xylophone), Duke Levine (electric guitar, hammer dulcimer), Chris Vatalaro (drums, percussion), Cameron Ralston (bass) and Kaufman himself (guitar, organ, harmonium, harmonica). Anais Mitchell lends harmonies to "'Home Is A Song."

Carpenter began writing songs as the pandemic was winding down. The title appears in the opener, "What Did You Miss," with the final verse: "I've been writing it down/song by song/as a personal history." Tempo picks up for "Paint + Turpentine," about sitting in a darkened Birchmere music club in Virginia watching Guy Clark teach a master class in songwriting and storytelling. In "New Religion," she finds her 'church' under canopies of oak trees. She assesses how life turned out in "Girl and Her Dog," an honest critique on victories and losses, reconciling with an appreciation of the simple things. It may be the prototypical song of reflecting as one grows older.

Carpenter takes stock of what matters in "The Saving Things" and finds wisdom in cliches in "Say It Anyway." The single, "Bitter Ender," plays to a chugging tempo as she ruminates on her resilience, punctuated by Kaufman's harmonica. "The Night We Never Met" is another intimate ballad, full of imagery - "I saw you standing/in a crowded station/waiting for the train/or maybe you were staring out from a cafe/and I was walking in the rain." "Home Is A Song" breathes comfort like few songs can.

As always, Carpenter hopes we can all relate to her life experiences. She is a master of relatable songs.