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Photograph courtesy of Montalvo
Mary Chapin Carpenter and her band talk with student musicians.
Students get a rare look into star musicians' lives
By Steve Enders
A small handful of Santa Teresa High School students got a rare treat on graduation day, June 10, at Villa Montalvo that included warm, bright sunshine and a glimpse into the personality of one of America's most famous, philanthropic songwriters.
Mary Chapin Carpenter and part of her band played to the students--most were from the school's jazz band--Thursday as part of a tour stop that included performances at Montalvo for two nights.
But instead of filing in with hundreds of other music fans for a regular performance, the students seemed thrilled to get an hour and a half in the intimate setting, at Montalvo's sun-washed oval garden behind the amphitheater's stage.
"Nobody does this," guitar student Ricky Rohlfing said, laughing in disbelief from his experience.
Rohlfing, 18, and his friend Jim Trujillo were put in what was almost an uncomfortable spot, as two of Carpenter's bandmates handed beautiful acoustic guitars to the students and asked them to play a song the two said they had written.
Rohlfing pulled a poem out of his back pocket that he had penned the night before; the two took a deep breath and proceeded with a nicely arranged song, eventually impressing the tiny audience, including Carpenter and her band.
Thursday's showcase was one of a few such small performances and conversation sessions with musicians visiting Montalvo. Last year, another Santa Teresa jazz group found themselves in the company of Wynton Marsalis, one of the world's great jazz trumpeters.
Montalvo director Elisabeth Challener said afterward that she hopes events like this will become the norm, rather than the exception. Later this summer, Boz Scaggs is scheduled to give a similar small performance and talk with a group of students.
This year, those students had that once-in-a-lifetime treat of world-class musicians opening up about both their personal lives and their public, musical lives.
Carpenter, who lives in Washington, D.C., talked about songwriting, record composing and touring with the group. Her music, while labeled "country" is more a crossover into blues, folk and bluegrass, especially with a mandolin in the mix of instruments.
"I had this thing called a 'major label deal,'" Carpenter gushed. "When you get it, you think you're going to get buses and all this stuff. But you don't see a dime until all the money has been paid back. I've always said that you have to do what you have to do so you can do what you love to do, and then you can do it any way you want."
And that's what Carpenter has done with her career. While those lean days are gone now, she said she's been through having to take day jobs so she can play where she wants and what she wants, and can do it all on her own instead of relying on music companies.
That philosophy is working. Right now, her latest album, Party Doll and Other Favorites, is number four on Billboard's country music charts. This short tour stint ends in July, and after a few more select gigs around the country, the group will travel to Europe together.
The outpouring of advice to the students seems to come naturally to the band and to Carpenter, who in the past year has also entertained troops in Bosnia and works for various social and environmental groups.
The musicians told the students that songwriting, like any other kind of art, takes practice and persistence. Somewhere between all the bad songs they write, they said, some good ones have come out.
"It's all so subjective," Carpenter said. "You might think it's the most profound thing you've ever written, but someone else might just get a dial tone."
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Saratoga, California Since 1975
