Mary Chapin Carpenter Quotations

I grew up listening to everything, and when I got signed to a record deal out of Nashville, that was my introduction to what was happening in country music.

When I started out, it was this sense of, "Let's put out a record and see what happens and see where you go and see how you feel and where we can take it." That was a very different world back then.

In the late 80s, artists could be signed to labels and be nurtured. It wasn't, "We're going to give you one shot, and if you don't measure up, you're gone".

I feel that it's nothing if not an incredible privilege to be able to get up on stage and play for people, and I don't ever take it for granted.

I think topical songwriting is a real gift, and it's hard not to be pedantic and show up with the sledgehammer message.

I feel like politics have always informed what I do. If you know anything about my music, you know I've never been shy about stating how I vote.

The joy of being in the studio is having people being utterly free to throw out their ideas.

I like to feel that every day or most days, I do a little bit of writing. I am a creature of habit in terms of the way I live.

20-some years ago, I'd have a big old radio with a tape deck, and I'd hit record and try to get something down on the tape, but nowadays, I can use my handy little smart-phone; I sing into the app for voice memo.

You've gotta know happy. You've gotta know sad. 'Cause you're gonna know lonely and you're gonna know sad