Review: Joan Baez & Mary Chapin Carpenter Shine at the Academy of Music

An October Sunday evening found a friend plus two newfound ones in the first balcony of Philadelphia's Academy of Music for a celebration of not only Joan Baez's 75 years of life, but also the music, and an enduring symbol that bridges generations.

Largely an older crowd (I was born in the midst of the Sixties, but I'd have to ask my siblings for clearer memories) entered the hall for a double bill that was first and foremost about the music.

Mary Chapin Carpenter's career has wound its own path, but it crossed with Baez "42 years ago," she admitted from the stage, when she was 16. There seemed no better counterpoint; whereas Baez is one of the finest interpreters of song and lyric, Carpenter always displayed an intelligent, literate and sharp song craft, even during her run across the top of the country music charts.

Carpenter took to the stage with piano and second guitar accompaniment, and began with the quiet energy of "The Age of Miracles." The stripped back sound of Carpenter's voice and guitar fits her work, Jon Carroll and Johnny Duke providing tasteful backing on the aforementioned. Then into "Something Tamed, Something Wild," as Carpenter took us on a trip through her catalog.

Chart hits were a departure, a slower, more thoughtful version of Lucinda Williams' "Passionate Kisses" one of these. Carpenter told her story of touring with Williams and Roseanne Cash in Australia, and of her nightly habit of jumping Williams and "messing up her hair." According to Carpenter, Williams finally told her, "For God's sakes, record (the song)!'"

From round that period, Carpenter continued with "This Shirt." A track from her latest album, The Things That We Are Made Of, spoke of a walking conversation Carpenter imagined with Sister Rosetta Tharpe. "Oh Rosetta" stemmed from that walk near her home in the Blue Ridge Mountains. A song of loss and perhaps uncertainty, it reflect a maturity in Carpenter's writing, but no loss in fire.

A fine set ended, and the next came quickly. Alone, Baez passed onstage, picked up her guitar and began with the traditional "Peggy-O." Baez at 75 retained her spark, and sense of humor, which she displayed on the night. Joined at times by multi-instrumentalist Dirk Powell and her son Gabriel Harris on percussion, Baez played through songs new and old. The second selection, Tom Waits' "Last Leaf on the Tree" showed Baez uncontent with sticking to the songs of the past.

Folk music has undergone numerous changes and evolutions over the years, despite the resistance of some artists, critics and those who play the music. Even so, Baez has not changed; too many think of the activist rather than the artist.

Your forget that just enough. To a call from high above on her looks, Baez took it in stride. "Workin' on it," she replied, "I inherited good bones and a lot of discipline!"

With that, into Steve Earle's "God is God."

Baez remarked she'd just come from Boston, where her start came in the late fifties. She recalled the now sadly changed scene of Harvard Square in Cambridge from 1959: "(There was) chess and cigarettes, and good coffee. I had a boyfriend who went to Harvard...Timothy Leary was just beginning experiments with LSD...and I was still a virgin!"

Bob Dylan's "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" came next, along with Woody Guthrie's "Deportee." Baez noted the tour was in conjunction with the Innocence Project, which she followed with "The Prison Trilogy."

Newer covers, and intriguing ones were of Antony (now Anonhi) & The Johnsons' "Another World" and Richard Thompson's "She Never Could Resist a Winding Road." Carpenter also returned for two songs; beneath the spots, they duetted on Donovan's "Catch the Wind" and Dylan's "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright."

Spirituals, "Diamonds and Rust" and a jazz-flavored version of "House of the Rising Sun" and "Gracia a la Vida" were among those that closed a solid, and joyful set, which earned a well-deserved standing ovation. The curtain call included "Imagine," and Paul Simon's "The Boxer." Playfully miming she had to get to bed, Baez returned solo for one more song, "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot."

A great show is one that goes by too fast. Baez, Carpenter and their fellows turned in a stunning, professional and memorable night. I wish I could write it more originally, but I cannot. Just a fine night had by all.

http://www.joanbaez.com/

http://www.marychapincarpenter.com/

http://www.innocenceproject.org/

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