Mary Chapin Carpenter has featured many times in the various features of these pages. As one of the greatest Americana artists to emerge from the 20th century this is hardly a surprise and over the course of a musical career that stretches back to her 1987 debut “Hometown Girl” Carpenter continues to cement a reputation as one of the finest artists of her generation. Her five Grammys may date back to the distant days of the 20th century but her influence and relevance and the respect with which she is held remains.
Early awards were firmly in the country camp and the fact that this is how she was viewed is evidenced by her regular appearance in CMA and ACM lists. The fact that her last nomination in these country circles was in the early 90s emphasises not just a subtle change in musical direction at that time but also that Carpenter never really did fit comfortably in this camp. Certainly, after those first two or three albums, anyone hearing her subsequent albums would file them confidently under the americana heading.
“The Dirt And The Stars” was released in 2020 and by then Carpenter had long discarded that early ‘country’ tag. Whilst not exactly raging against the establishment in the direct way that so damaged Natalie Maines and The (Dixie) Chicks, Carpenter has always, in her own, more subtle way, made her own point on the American way. From that album ‘American Stooge’ typifies both the intelligence of Carpenter’s songwriting and her mischievous sense of humour. It is both a song of its time, reflecting as it does on Trump’s first presidency, and a song that perhaps carries even more resonance now.
Carpenter describes the track as an ode to all the apologists who have caved in on their principles simply for the sake of political survival. She says it was inspired by something that Senator Lindsey Graham told the media while trying to explain his sudden allegiance to President Trump, with whom he had battled for the presidential nomination in 2016. “People were sort of saying, “What happened to Lindsey Graham?” “Suddenly he was this sycophant for Trump. So, I thought it was an interesting character study. He was being very forthright saying, “Nothing happened to me. I just want to be relevant”. It attached him to power and power begets power. He was very unapologetic. It was actually very refreshing in my view for a politician to be very transparent in that way. But it was also breath-taking in a way. So, it started out as a general character study in a way inspired by Lindsey Graham. I was just writing and writing, and by the end of the song, it became an indictment of all those sycophants that inhabit the halls of Congress. It’s not just Republicans, but it’s Democrats as well. They’re all over the place. So, it’s all about those stooges. It was just my humorous take on the whole thing”.
If it is a mischievous song then Carpenter plays it exactly the way it deserves with a playful riff that fits perfectly with the tongue firmly in cheek tone of the track. “Once he stood at a fork in the road, scratching his head which way to go, power on his left, conscience on his right, a soul in the balance in a knock down fight… Ahh I just can’t lose, I’m all over the news, batting my sweet baby blues. Baby it’s the American way, to hell with the truth, I’m sucking up to the dude, I’m an American stooge, and baby I like it that way.”
