C: Is for Carrie Newcomer

Rounder Records announced Carrie Newcomer’s latest album Before and After, set for release on February 23rd, 2010. The acclaimed singer/songwriter has created a brand new album that captures her uniquely irreverent and spiritual take on the world. This latest release, Newcomer emphasizes “is not an album about being flashy or playing lot of notes, it’s about playing the most elegant notes and placing them perfectly.” And indeed, Before and After combines the very best of Newcomer’s folk-roots sound, overlaid with Appalachian and classical influences. Featuring a special guest appearance from Mary Chapin Carpenter, coupled with Newcomer’s voice, the album launches itself with an unforgettably haunting and beautiful collaboration from two of acoustic music’s most resonant female vocalists.

Before and After is Newcomer’s twelfth release on Rounder, with prior albums including Regulars & Refugees, The Age of Possibility, The Gathering of Spirits, the Betty’s Diner collection and her last album, the critically acclaimed The Geography of Light. The melodious sound on Before and After results from closely working with a core of exceptional musicians who combine piano, violin, mandolin, cello, bass and percussion with Newcomer’s adept guitar work and soulful voice, which the Austin Statesman has described as being “as rich as Godiva chocolate.” As always, Newcomer’s work is inspired and influenced by her friendships and collaborations with influential authors, theologians and fellow songwriters, including Parker J. Palmer, Phillip Gulley, Jim Wallis, Brian McLaren, Scott Russell Sanders, Barbara Kingsolver and Jill Bolte Taylor.

It is no surprise that her music has been praised in Rolling Stone, The Village Voice, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, Acoustic Guitar, Performing Songwriter, Paste Magazine and many other outlets. She has toured with Alison Krauss and Union Station, and her song “I Should’ve Known Better” was recorded by Nickel Creek on their Grammy®-winning, gold-selling album This Side. Her successful 2008 release, The Geography of Light, earned her Artist of the Year and Album of the Year from Folk Wax Magazine.

In addition to a busy year of recording and touring, in 2009 Newcomer was invited by The American Centre to visit India as a cultural ambassador, where she met and performed concerts with Indian musicians, and taught workshops on songwriting and community involvement – continuing her emphasis on outreach and helping others. About her impressions of India, Newcomer says, “music can be a language deeper than words. I love our differences. Cultures are rich, and what makes each culture unique should be celebrated, but I was also powerfully moved by what we share as a human family.”

For more information and upcoming tour dates, visit www.carrienewcomer.com and www.rounder.com.

Her music reaches the heart of America and that is a F.A.C.T.