Having released her first album in 1987,
Mary Chapin Carpenter
has had a remarkable life and career, with many stories to tell. She's chosen to make some of those stories the basis of her 2025 album
Personal History
. If
Carpenter
wanted to make a biographical concept album, she doubtless would have plenty to draw from, but
finds her approaching the project in her own way. Rather than tying the material to a narrative through line, she has instead offered us 11 songs that play like journal entries or a series of short stories, with each track providing a different insight into who she is and how she became the woman she is in 2025.
shares her thoughts on growing older and coming to terms with the past ("Coda"), the mysteries of the passage of time ("What Did You Miss"), the people who informed her creative process ("Paint + Turpentine"), pondering things that could have been ("The Night We Never Met"), the complicated notions of fate and faith ("New Religion"), and the pleasures of solitude ("Girl and Her Dog"). If these songs aren't explicitly autobiographical, they certainly sound like they could be, and they feel deeply personal, both in their lyrics and in
's vocals, as intimate and honest as a conversation at 3 a.m.
was recorded at
Peter Gabriel
's Real World Studio, which has become one of her favored work environments, with
Josh Kaufman
of
Bonny Light Horseman
handling production, and while they're capable of crafting full bodied arrangements on songs like "The Saving Things" and "Bitter Ender," most of this album matches the tone of the songs, intelligently spare and adding just enough detail to reinforce the emotions of her performances. Since launching her own
Lambent Light
label with 2016's
The Things That We Are Made Of
,
has used her creative autonomy wisely, allowing herself a freedom and a willingness to push her creative boundaries that wasn't audible in her work for
Columbia
, and
is a triumph, offering an unguarded look into her heart and her soul. ~ Mark Deming