Mary Chapin Carter (Gig Preview for Buzz Magazine)

Words originally for Buzz Magazine, written during a week's work experience completed in August 2010, published in Buzz's October issue.

Mary Chapin Carpenter

Coliseum Theatre, Aberdare

Thurs 28 Oct

Mary Chapin Carpenter may not particularly enjoy the “country” music tag that she has had laid upon her for the last 23 years of performing, but unfortunately it’s a word I struggle to avoid when writing this preview. In fact, this label is not something only argued against by Mary herself, but also by music writers of her early days and throughout her career as a whole. They argue that Mary, despite being simplistically labelled on websites such as Wikipedia as a “folk and country music artist”, is much more than this – various individuals noting over the years that her sound is reminiscent of The Beach Boys, Motown music, The Beatles, and it is highly unfair, with her use of the likes of sitar, ukulele, and guitar loops, to describe her music with such basic labels.

This tag doesn’t seem to have hurt her career too much, though. With five Grammy Awards under her belt, 12 top 10 singles, and having sold over 13 million records in her time, American-born Mary to continues to have an incredibly successful career – and her visit to Aberdare, which is her only Welsh stop as part of her 10-date rarely seen UK tour on the back of her latest album {The Age of Mircales}, will undoubtedly be a popular one. Support comes from American singer-songwriter Tift Merritt.

Tickets: £25 advance, £27.50 on the door. Info: www.coliseum.rct-arts.org / 01685 881 188.