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Newcomer is 'coming home'; lucky us
February 14th, 2008
by Kevin Lynch — The Capital Times
Carrie Newcomer is one of the best musical things to ever come out of Michigan, but is she too good to be true?
Acclaimed writer Barbara Kingsolver, author of "The Poisonwood Bible," has commented: "Carrie is much more than a musician. She's a poet, storyteller, snake charmer, good neighbor, friend and lover, minister of the wide-eyed gospel of hope and grace."
So do we say amen and just wait for the light of Newcomer's voice to bless us on Saturday when she appears at the Brink Lounge? The show will start at 7 p.m., and tickets are $16 in advance and $18 the day of the show and available at Borders Books East and West, B-Side Records, Spruce Tree Music, Orange Tree Imports and Steep & Brew on Odana Road.
That ray beaming down at her feet on the cover of her latest CD, "Geography of Light," looks suspiciously like a crack in the serenely sly facade of the timeless mind game movie "The Truman Show."
But whether she knows it or not, we sure should: Madison is lucky that this renowned troubadour still recognizes us and the Madison Folk Music Society as one of her "home towns," amid a tour of largely concert hall events.
Newcomer is also no stranger to a certain spirited attitude because she's cultivated it herself.
Her press Web page leads off with her "spiritual biography," which includes a list of influences and friends including Kingsolver, Phillip Gulley, Jim Wallis, Scott Russell Sanders and Madison's Parker Palmer, all various thinkers of a spiritual sort who think as well as they talk.
As Rolling Stone wrote, "Newcomer asks all the right questions and refuses to settle for easy answers."
She does this with sharply arranged and performed songs woven with folk, Appalachian and classical music influences.
As Newcomer said in a promotional interview, "Songwriting is not about being clever, flashy or fancy -- it is about telling a compelling story in language and music with elegance and clarity."
Newcomer, a Quaker, seems to fit what some call the "progressive spiritual" music culture, but I'd call it No-Nonsense Rust-Belt New-Age Folk. She was born in little Dowagiac, Mich., but grew up in Elkhart, Ind., and now lives in the bottom end of the Hoosier State.
But in recent years you might just find her "drinking St. Pauli's in Wisconsin," as she sings on her new song, "A Map of Shadows."
Madison author Palmer knows Newcomer's affable grace well.
"I was just on stage with her in Indianapolis last Thursday," he says. "She kindly let me do something with her. I'm a 69-year-old guy who wanted to be a rock star.
"We had written a song together called 'Two Toasts,' and we did that." He also collaborated on her "best of" album, "Betty's Diner," for which he wrote the liner notes. The title song is about "a waitress in a diner who reflects on the great and good places of our world" and evolved into a full concept album, "Regulars and Refugees."
Palmer's best-known books are "Let Your Life Speak," which was the one that spoke to Newcomer, he says, and "The Courage to Teach the Hidden Wholeness."
"Carrie has a gorgeous voice, and she's a person with social justice sensibilities but she doesn't pontificate," Palmer says. "She writes some very nitty-gritty songs about ordinary people and the classic subjects of people struggling with money, family and life's meanings."
He would've been happy to appear at the Brink, but he has an engagement out of town.
Madison's Chris Wagoner on violin and Mary Gaines on bass and cello will be in her band here, as they were on "Geography of Light." They'll also play with the night's opening band, the Bob Westfall Band.
Newcomer is smart enough to know that everyone must deal with life's vagaries.
On "There Is a Tree" Newcomer sings "I am the fool whose life's been spent between what's said and what is meant."
But like any good 'n' able woman, she has her ways and means: "Never doubt or question the power of love or one woman with a shovel" (from "One Woman and a Shovel").
Her own repertoire of skills included recently performing and speaking with at-risk juveniles inside of an Ohio courtroom (with the judge, parole officer and parents present) and performing and conducting a workshop inside of an Indiana women's penitentiary.
As she has said: "My life and work were definitely not described on Junior High School Career Day."
The new album's most contemporary subject concerns the dangers of e-mailing in "Don't Push Send."
Let's hope we can always count on Newcomer returning Madison's invitations, in person.