Back in the
day (mid to late 80s, I think), a group of us started going to see Emmylou
Harris at Wolf Trap every year. One particular year, her opening act was
someone we had never heard of, named Mary Chapin Carpenter. We were so
impressed that we started going to Carpenter’s annual performances instead,
although a few of us kept going to Emmylou’s shows as well. By now, I’ve seen
more performances by her than by any other artist – in addition to the shows
that she does almost every summer at Wolf Trap, I’ve caught shows by her at
other local venues (Birchmere, 9:30 Club, Lyric Opera House in Baltimore), and
one each in Philadelphia (WXPN annual summer music festival) and Elmer, NJ
(Appel Farm Arts and Music Festival). I actually started going to the WXPN
festivals in the summer of 2000 to see Carpenter, because for some reason she
wasn’t going to be at Wolf Trap that year.
Carpenter
wrote “Stones In The Road” during the heyday of her period as an unlikely
country music superstar. The song is certainly more folk than country – it was
actually first recorded by Joan Baez – which helps explain why her record
company never released it as a single. Unlike “Slippin’ Into Darkness” and “Thunder Road” it follows the traditional verse-chorus-bridge structure, but like the
latter the lyrics are outstanding, a parable of growing up in a comfortable
white middle-class environment, for the most part touched only indirectly by
the chaos of the late 1960s, and seeing youthful idealism replaced by the
cynicism of the grownup rat race. It’s interesting that while the references in
the first verse of the song (Pledge of Allegiance, starving children overseas) are
common to many of us, the second verse is intensely personal, as Carpenter was growing
up in Princeton NJ when Robert F. Kennedy’s funeral train traveled from New
York down to Washington after his assassination in 1968. And as with “Canadian Railroad Trilogy”, the final lines pack a real punch. (Carpenter was always
best when her political points were subtle):
"And the
stones in the road leave a mark from whence they came / A thousand points of
light or shame, baby, I don't know."
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