Mary Chapin Carpenter

The Working Songwriter

Joe Pug

Performing Arts, Arts, Music, Music Interviews

4.9 • 1.7K Ratings

🗓️ 1 May 2026

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Our guest this week on the Working Songwriter hails from my neck of the woods, Washington, D.C. Mary Chapin Carpenter got her start in the proto-Americana music scene of 1970s and '80s D.C. She broke out of that local circuit with her signing to Columbia Records; her debut album went quadruple platinum. She’s toured with Emmylou Harris, Shawn Colvin, and Rosanne Cash, she’s won five GRAMMY Awards, two CMA Awards, and two Academy of Country Music Awards. Her song, “Shut Up and Kiss Me,” went to the top of the country radio charts. Chapin Carpenter has appeared on the Late Night with David Letterman and Rolling Stone calls her "one of the most grounded, sentient songwriters of her generation." NPR has said that she’s “a singular voice in country and folk” and the New York Times praises her “intelligent, literate songwriting with emotional depth.” Simply put, she’s an all-timer. I got a chance to catch up with her earlier this year and hear about her musical journey so far. Interested in sponsoring us? Contact BGS: https://bit.ly/sponsorBGSpods

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode of The Working Songwriter is brought to you by Yamaha guitars.
0:05.3	2026 marks the 60th anniversary of Yamaha guitars.
0:10.0	That's six decades of innovation, expertise, and instruments that have inspired players like
0:15.4	John Denver, Bob Dylan, Elliot Smith, Billy Corgan, and Keith Urban.
0:20.2	From legendary FG red label guitars to modern innovations like their transacoustic series,
0:26.9	Yamaha continues to set the gold standard for acoustic guitar craftsmanship worldwide.
0:32.3	To celebrate 60 years of guitar excellence, visit Yamaha.com and stop by your local Yamaha dealer today.
1:00.5	Hi and welcome to the working songwriter. The show where today's best songwriters come to talk shop.
1:12.4	I'm your host, Joe Pug. Each episode here, we host a distinguished guest, and we ask them to go deep on their inspiration, on their process, on the general ups and downs of making a life in music. So, whether you're a grizzled veteran auditing royalty statements from terrestrial
1:19.0	radio in the 1990s, or else a scrappy upstart, tallying your current Spotify streams to anticipate
1:26.4	your monthly payout.
1:27.9	This is your show, because ultimately it is what every writer seeks most,
1:32.8	an ironclad excuse to put off actually writing.
1:51.5	Hey, everyone, it's the first Friday of May, 2026, and I thank you for joining us.
1:53.8	This week's show is brought to you by Banzugal.
2:03.3	Built by musicians and four musicians, Banzugal is an all-in-one platform to build a beautiful website for your music. I'm old enough to remember when you had to pay somebody called a web developer to get a website made. It would always be
2:08.7	some guy named Tucker who drove a Volkswagen cabriolet with a lowered suspension and who was always
2:15.4	trying to sell you CBD oils that had been blessed by an obscure
2:19.9	yoga master. And old Tucker would charge you about a thousand bucks for a website that would be
2:24.6	obsolete in six months. But it's the future now, you guys, that's not how it works anymore.
2:30.0	We're allowed to have nice things now. One of those nice things is Banzugal.
2:40.6	For over 20 years, Banzugal has made it easy to build a stunning website and online store for your music.
	...

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