Age of Miracles, which was released last spring to widespread critical acclaim. Over the course of a 12-album recording career, Carpenter has won five Grammy Awards and sold over 13 million records. Of the new music, The New York Times heralds, “…quietly spellbinding…the music of of Ms. Carpenter is an unclassifiable hybrid of pop, folk, and country…” Carpenter has always professed a love for all kinds of music, and those influences come together in songs that speak to the most personal of life’s details as well as to the most universal.
Shawn Colvin is one of the leading lights of the so-called “new folk movement” that began in the late ’80s. Although she grew out of the “woman with a guitar” school, she kept the form fresh with a diverse approach, avoiding the genre’s cliched sentiments and all-too-often formulaic arrangements in favor of a more personal, pop-influenced style. Colvin’s debut record won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album in 1991, but it was her 1997 single, “Sunny Came Home,” that firmly catapulted her into the mainstream. Colvin still commands a broad, loyal following.