Mary Chapin Carpenter Returns to Portsmouth Music Hall, July 1

MARY CHAPIN CARPENTER, WITH SPECIAL GUEST ROSE COUSINS, IN-CONCERT AT PORTSMOUTH MUSIC HALL, WEDNESDAY, JULY 1

Five-time Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter and 2012 Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee Mary Chapin Carpenter returns to Portsmouth for a concert at The Music Hall, 28 Chestnut Street, on Wednesday, July 1.

The 7:00 p.m. show is a Voices United Concert to benefit the national non-profit, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and will feature special guest Rose Cousins. Tickets to the All Ages concert are $45/$75/$100, are now on sale at www.themusichall.org and at the Box Office (603) 436-2400.

“Quietly spellbinding... the music of Ms. Carpenter is an unclassifiable hybrid of pop, folk and country,” raves The New York Times about Mary Chapin Carpenter. Carpenter’s latest release, Songs from the Movie, is an inspired orchestral reinvention of her classic compositions. This spring she embarks on a unique series of intimate, acoustic performances. The tour marks Carpenter’s return to singing both timeless hits and deep cuts from her expansive and beloved 13-album catalog after performing with orchestras in early 2014. Carpenter will be joined on stage in Portsmouth by longtime friends Jon Carroll (piano) and John Doyle (guitars, bouzouki).

Carpenter has spent the past year performing alongside world-renowned orchestras since the release of her debut orchestral album, Songs From the Movie (Zoë/Rounder), which was conducted and arranged by six-time Grammy Award winner Vince Mendoza. Carpenter’s world debut orchestral concert took place on January 24 at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall alongside the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. In March, she performed two milestone concerts at New York’s Lincoln Center with the New York Philharmonic, conducted by Mr. Mendoza, and was joined by special guests Joan Baez, Shawn Colvin, Jerry Douglas, Tift Merritt and Aoife O’Donovan.

Over the course of her career, Carpenter has sold over 13 million records. With hits like “Passionate Kisses” and “He Thinks He’ll Keep Her,” she has won five Grammy Awards (with 15 nominations), two CMA awards and two Academy of Country Music awards for her vocals. Her songs speak to the most personal of life’s details and the most universal.

Singer-songwriter Rose Cousins is a collaborator at heart. Native of Prince Edward Island, she lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia and performs across the US, Canada, UK, Ireland and Australia. Her 2012 album, We Have Made A Spark took home a Canadian JUNO Award along with many other awards including a spot on NPR’s Top 10 Americana & Folk Albums. Last September she released the EP Stray Birds - a collection of meaningful covers and 2 original songs.

Voices United Concerts benefits Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AU), a crucially important non-profit which lobbies, litigates and educates to protect us against religious extremism. Voices United Concerts to benefit AU have included such greats as Sarah Silverman, Ani DiFranco, Louis Black, Kate Clinton, John Gorka, Roy Zimmerman, Melissa Ferrick, and countless others. Since 1947, AU has advocated on issues including: Creationism in Science Classes, “Religious Freedom” bills that allow discrimination, Partisan Politics in Churches, Marriage Equality, Reproductive Freedoms and more.