Carrie Newcomer’s ‘Kindred Spirits’ collection coming on Rounder

The two new songs, “The Speed of Soul”
and “A Long Christmas Dinner,” were recorded and produced by Newcomer, Robert
Meitus and David Weber at Airtime Studios.  “The Speed of Soul” is a poignant
exploration of a more deliberate relationship to time in an increasingly
fast-paced culture.  “A Long Christmas Dinner” creates a portrait of life and
family as part of an ongoing continuum.  In the songs “I Believe,” “Geodes” and
“Holy as a Day Is Spent,” Newcomer quietly and beautifully describes the
presence of something extraordinary in the midst of our ordinary days. She
sings, “God walks around in muddy boots, sometimes rags and that’s the truth”
and “Folding sheets like folding hands, to pray as only laundry can.”  “Before
and After” explores the large and small experiences by which we mark our lives
through a haunting duet with Mary Chapin Carpenter, resulting in a remarkable
combination of two of acoustic music’s most rich and resonant females.  “The
Gathering of Spirits,” featuring Alison Krauss, is a clear-voiced and
crystalline celebration of life. “Betty’s Diner” is a hymn to the human
condition and the presence of grace in something as small as a shared meal or
cup of coffee — “Here we are all in one place, the wants and wounds of the human
race . . . let her fill your cup with something kind, eggs and toast like bread
and wine.”  Also included are the spiritual and tender “Sparrow” and the wry and
raucous “Where You Been.”  The sensual “I Do Not Know Its Name” describes
poetically and lyrically the sacred we experience, but which cannot be named.
Reaching into her early work, “A Whole Lot of Hope,” “Bare to the Bone” and “My
True Name” are snapshots of what has always been present in Newcomer’s
songwriting and has only deepened and expanded with each
recording.

On the
topics of the new collection, spirituality and songwriting, Newcomer
writes, “I am one of a growing number of people who don’t want to put the sacred
in such a small container. I am disturbed that one very narrowly focused and
extremely political brand of Christianity being called the ‘religious voice.’
There are wide communities of spiritual people who believe that walking this
world in love and compassion is about feeding the hungry, providing for the poor
or sick, caring for our elders, making sure that the table of love includes and
welcomes everyone, educating our children and young people, honoring our
beautiful and interconnected planet. These communities believe that women are
equal spiritual beings, and that the highest and most honorable work is creating
a less violent, more just and kind world. Isn’t a life of compassion bigger than
a catch phrase or sound byte? Isn’t love wider and deeper than fear?” Speaking
more to this point, she shares, “If a spiritual leader is teaching hate, it is
not spiritual message, it is political message.”  

“My most effective and powerful voice
will always be my truest voice. We all know when a song is candy-coating things
or just going for shock value. But when a song places its finger on the open
palm of something true, it shakes the world just a little bit. Why would I want
to do anything else as a writer, or as a person? Part of my work as a writer is
to put into language and music moments of wonder that have no words.”

The result is
Kindred Spirits: A Collection, a resonant soundtrack for a world that
is both sacred and ordinary, reflective and forward thinking.

The album’s artwork features
the work of Hugh Syme, whose sense of magical realism captures Newcomer’s joyous
idea about finding miracles in common places.

Kindred Spirits: A
Collection Track List
 1. The Speed of Soul