BY KAREN BOSSICK
Five-time Grammy Award winning songstress Mary Chapin Carpenter is trading her home in Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains for the mountains of Sun Valley—for one day, at least.
Carpenter is one of several performers to play Sun Valley this summer in a Sun Valley summer full of concerts.
Carpenter will perform Tuesday, June 26, at the Sun Valley Pavilion.
She’s in the midst of a summer tour that is taking her to a plethora of concert venues on the East Coast, including Portland, Maine, and Pittsburgh, Pa. Sun Valley, Denver and Aspen, Colo., are her only performances out West.
Tuesday’s concert promises to include songs from her latest album “Sometimes Just the Sky.” It features new versions of songs recorded on each of the 12 studio albums she has recorded since her first, “Hometown Girl,” in 1987.
Songs on the new album include “Rhythm of the Blues,” “The Moon and St. Christopher” and “This Shirt.”
The album itself was named for the one new song included. Carpenter, known for focusing on societal and political issues, was inspired to write the song after hearing singer and poet Patti Smith give a speech about finding your way in life through the difficult and the beautiful.
The essence of what she was saying is that life is hard and it can break your heart and tear you apart but there are many beautiful things about it, as well, Carpenter told “Rolling Stone Country.”
“She lists a few things, like sometimes it’s about meeting an old friend…and then she says, ‘Sometimes it’s just the sky,’ ” she added. “Sometimes a phrase just jumps out and all of a sudden it means everything to me.”
Tickets range from $40 to $75, available at www.sunvalley.com and the Recreation Office in Sun Valley Village.
Other concerts this summer:
- St. Paul & the Broken Bones eight-piece soul rock band with guest North Mississippi Allstars, presented by the Sun Valley Center for the Arts on June 25.
- The Bluzmen, a tribute to The Blues Brothers, presented by Sun Valley Resort on July 3.
- "Salute to America the Beautiful Concert" with Brian Stokes Mitchell & Sutton Foster and The American Festival Orchestra conducted by Craig Jessop. Presented by Sun Valley Opera and Thomas S. Perakos on July 7.
- Big Head Todd & the Monsters with guest Shovels & Rope, presented by Sun Valley Center for the Arts on Aug. 1.
- 1964 The Beatles Tribute, presented by the Killebrew-Thompson Memorial on Aug. 18.
- Baldygrass One-Night Music Fest featuring The infamous Stringdusters, Kuinka and AH, presented by the Sun Valley Center for the Arts on Aug. 22.
- Martina McBride, presented by Sun Valley Resort and Sinclair Oil on Aug. 27.
- Temptations Review, presented by Sun Valley Opera and Sun Valley Resort on Aug. 31.
- Gov’t Mule with Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real, presented by RJK Entertainment and Sun Valley Resort on Sept. 2.
- Brett Eldredge with Devin Dawson, presented by Live Nation on Sept. 22.
For more information about these concerts visit www.sunvalley.com or www.sunvalleycenter.org.