After a productive day working on the summer 2018 issue of The Musician magazine with the Future Fusion publishing team at Quay House, I accompanied Account Manager David Parker and Consultant Editor Neil Crossley to The Forum where acclaimed singer & songwriter Mary Chapin Carpenter was performing as part of the Bath Festival, supported by UK Americana Awards Artist of the Year, Emily Barker.
Emily took to the stage with bassist/guitarist/vocalist Lukas Drinkwater and immediately engaged the audience with her strong, memorable vocals and crafted songs, including tracks from her stunning new album recorded in Memphis, ‘Sweet Kind of Blue.’
Mary Chapin was in great form, fronting a tasteful trio playing piano, guitar/mandolin and drums/percussion, and delivering a quality selection of new songs from her latest release (Sometime just the sky), and timeless classics such as Stones in the road, Passionate kisses, I feel lucky and He thinks he’ll keep her.
The night was rounded off by my meeting Emily post-gig and by her kindly giving me a signed vinyl copy of her new LP. I returned to the extremely comfortable surrounds of the Apex Hotel and enjoyed a gin and tonic (with grapefruit) to sign off a standout day.