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Carrie Newcomer To Release Eleventh Album "The Geography Of Light" On Rounder Records- February 12, 2008

January 3rd, 2008

“Rapturously tuneful, Newcomer's material asks all the right questions and refuses to settle for easy answers.”  - Rolling Stone

Burlington, MA – Rounder Records is pleased to announce the February 12, 2008, release of The Geography of Light, the latest album from Carrie Newcomer – the captivating singer/songwriter described as “a soaring songstress” by Billboard and “a rising star” by The Wall Street Journal.  The Geography of Light is a skillfully arranged and performed collection of folk-roots tracks with Appalachian and classical influences.  It is also an album about navigating and exploring the appearance of light and shadow in our lives.  For Newcomer, “songwriting is not about being clever, flashy or fancy—it is about telling a compelling story in language and music with elegance and clarity.”  In a world that encourages us to move faster and think bigger, Newcomer invites the listener to slow down and reflect on the small things that make life worthwhile.  The Geography of Light is Newcomer’s eleventh release on Rounder, with prior albums including The Age of Possibility, The Gathering of Spirits, the Betty’s Diner collection and her last album, Regulars & Refugees.  As her most intimate and lush work yet, The Geography of Light results from closely working with a core of exceptional musicians who combine piano, violin, mandolin, cello, bass, percussion, and background vocals with Newcomer’s adept guitar work and resonant voice, which the Austin Statesman has called “as rich as Godiva chocolate.”  

The Geography of Light was influenced by Newcomer’s friendships and recent collaborations with influential authors, theologians and fellow songwriters, including Parker J. Palmer, Phillip Gulley, Jim Wallis, Scott Russell Sanders, Barbara Kingsolver, Holly Near and Bernice Johnson Reagon.  Many of the album’s tracks examine compelling ideas and questions arising out of her relationships within this community—the idea that things are not always as they appear; that good exists at the center of things; that life is a process of transformation; that there is value in simple things.  Newcomer is one of the few singer/songwriters working within the progressive spiritual continuum, speaking about a shift in our culture, and insisting that the religious right does not have a monopoly on faith.  She is not afraid to take on serious subjects, but Newcomer does so with a healthy measure of good humor and self-awareness.

Newcomer’s music has been praised in Rolling Stone, The Village Voice, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, Acoustic Guitar, Performing Songwriter, Paste Magazine and several other outlets.  She has toured with Alison Krauss and Union Station, and her song “I Should’ve Known Better” was recorded by Nickel Creek on their Grammy-winning, gold-selling album This Side.  When Carrie is not in the midst of traveling, she spends her time with her husband and two dogs at her home in the woods near Bloomington, Indiana.

Newcomer will tour nationally in 2008 in support of The Geography of Light, and will donate 10% of the profits from her tour sales of the new release to the American Friends Service Committee (www.afsc.org).  For more information and a complete schedule, visit www.carrienewcomer.com and www.rounder.com.

Track list for The Geography of Light
1.    There is a Tree
2.    The Clean Edge of Change
3.    A Map of Shadows
4.    Geodes
5.    Two Toasts
6.    Where You Been
7.    Biscuits and Butter
8.    A Mean Kind of Justice
9.    Leaves Don’t Drop (They Just Let Go)
10.    You’d Think By Now
11.    One Woman and a Shovel
12.    Lazarus
13.    Throw Me a Line
14.    Don’t Push Send – Bonus Track                   

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