OURS is not to wonder why, ours is but to ... enjoy. Whoever put together the tour comprising Mary Chapin Carpenter and Lyle Lovett, who play in the Point Theatre, Dublin, tonight, certainly wasn't taking any chances.
Carpenter, on the eve of the release of her sixth album, A Place In The World, and Lovett, riding on the back of the success of his sixth album, The Road To Ensenada, are two of the most interesting and accomplished singer/songwriters working in the general area of country music today. On their own each would be a must see; sharing a stage, the attraction is almost irresistible.
We don't know whether or not they will give each other a hand during their performances, but as songwriters they compliment each other well. Lovett, born in a Texas country town in 1957, offers a stoically grim worldview spiced by a sure touch in deadpan humour. Carpenter, an Ivy League child born in New Jersey a year later, chronicles the guilt ridden journey of a generation worn down by its own expectations. Lovett is all cool and exact; Carpenter is cosy and warm.
Both have been claimed by country, but they utilise a range of American music influences, from Texas swing through blues and folk, to tell their stories of life, love and losing.
Lovett will be with his wonderful Large Band. His latest album is his first since the breakup of his marriage to screen star Julia Roberts, an experience of which he remains remarkably sanguine. "I love her. I'd do it all again," he told the Houston Chronicle. But, trying to head off at the pass critics who would seek deeper meanings in the lyrics, he says that the songs on the album were all often before they decided to call it quits.
Carpenter's latest album is under wraps, though a single has been released in the US. Her appeal is wider though no less valid for that. Albums such as Stones In The Road and Come On Come On have managed to convey the plight of the thirty to fortysomething generation low on self esteem, direction and emotional fulfilment. It is coffee house folk for the Nineties, introspective and deeply felt, but cushioned by a neat self deprecating sense of humour.
What chance Lyle joining her for I Feel Lucky in which she namechecks our rugged hero? Time will tell.