Mary Chapin Carpenter [ a ] born February 21, is an American country and folk music singer-songwriter. Carpenter spent several years singing in Washington, D. Carpenter's first album, 's Hometown Girl , did not produce any charting singles. Carpenter's most successful album is 's Come On Come On , which accounted for seven singles and was certified quadruple platinum in the United States for shipments of four million copies.
Her follow up album, Stones in the Road , appeared two years later and won Carpenter the Grammy Award for Best Country Album , while going double platinum for shipments of two million copies. Her first album for this label was 's The Calling. Carpenter has won five Grammy Awards , from 18 nominations, including four consecutive wins in the category of Best Female Country Vocal Performance between and She has charted 27 times on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, with her single " Shut Up and Kiss Me " representing her only number-one single there.
Her musical style takes influence from contemporary country and folk, with many of her songs including feminist themes. While largely composed of songs she wrote herself or with longtime producer John Jennings , her discography includes covers of Gene Vincent , Lucinda Williams , and Dire Straits , among others. As a child, Carpenter learned to play her mother's ukulele and classical guitar in addition to writing songs.
She attended Brown University , from which she graduated with a degree in American civilization. The two began collaborating and put together a demo cassette of several of Carpenter's songs which she sold at concerts.
Jennings had originally planned to sign Carpenter to an independent label, but the owner of a Washington, D. This led to her signing with that label in , only two days before she was slated to sign the contract with the other independent label. Her albums would continue to punctuate her name in this fashion until Musician Jon Carroll played piano and also provided percussion by shaking a Cream of Wheat can.
