Stage Talk with Rick Koster
Where every show has something to say.
Jim Carpenter’s approach to sinning — melodically speaking, of course
Start prepping your ears for February 27 — which is the date of the next Sinner’s Circle gathering taking place in the Garde’s Oasis Room. Fans know the Sinner’s Circle as the popular regional songwriters-in-the-round series founded 15 years ago in New London by four incredible tunesmiths: Jim Carpenter, Hugh Birdsall, John Fries and Ben Parent.
This season, each of the four original songsters are taking turns hosting a Circle, respectively inviting three composers to share the Oasis stage. In turn, all four perform material and discuss the craft — and, in natural fashion, stories and anecdotes bubble into the presentation.
Carpenter is host for the Feb. 27 Circle, and he’s proud to have secured the talent of Allysen Callery, Avi Jacobs and Eddie Seville — a stylistically diverse trio of accomplished and compelling artists. It’s great, hooky fun.
Earlier this week, over a tuna melt and a Miller Lite at Mr. G’s in New London, Carpenter entertained a few questions about the upcoming Sinner’s Circle.
The Garde: There are so many sea changes in the music business, taking place on an almost daily basis. Is the basic concept of the singer-songwriter in danger of becoming fossilized?
Carpenter: You know, I understand why you’d ask. But, truthfully, I don’t believe so. In fact, I’ve been doing this a really long time and I’ve seen the population of singer-songwriters increase tenfold. But what’s interesting is, if you’re someone trying to make it, or someone who’s foolish enough to still be trying to do that (laughs), it’s incredibly intimidating.
I mean, it’s still rewarding for all the right reasons. I used to enjoy writing songs because I didn’t need anybody. You know, you just… go in a room, lock the door, pick up the guitar, and there you are. There was a purity to it.
You’d start writing and finish some songs and, you know, make a cassette tape. Then you’d print up a cover on a Xerox machine in black and white, and make 20 copies and sell them. You’d just be so happy. You were in the circle, right?
Garde: There’s obviously a different dynamic now.
Carpenter: Well, yes. Now there’s the necessity of social media. It’s such a huge percentage of the business, even for just someone starting out as a songwriter. In some ways it makes it easier to be competitive, and maybe that’s why I see so many more songwriters. Or maybe they’ve always been there without the outlets. But, just as easily as social media gets you out there and can make you a success, it can also break you. It’s still ridiculously long odds
Garde: Are you suggesting the element of self-promotion becomes part of the equation?
Carpenter: Well, yes. Like, if it’s someone who’s a wonderful writer, but just isn’t comfortable with social media or is even versatile at how to do it. Computer illiterate or whatever. You probably need to put a whole hell of a lot of effort into mastering the social media aspect but maybe even then no one pays attention. But handling that aspect is like another job in addition to just writing songs.
And don’t forget — you have to be really, really good at writing songs to begin with. Learning how to write a song took me my whole life.
Or maybe I’m just old and complaining because I don’t have time to start over again and figure out how to work the whole social media aspect in addition to working on the songs. To me, there’s still a lot to be said for just playing songs for people — the organic, word of mouth connection.
Garde: So therein lies the distinctive value of something like the Sinner’s Circle?
Carpenter: Oh, definitely. I mean (laughs), I’ve established that it’s really old-school. But it’s still great. If you think of the original foursome — Ben, John, Hugh and me — well, you can’t get much more old-school than us. But I love it. I love talking with songwriters and hearing new songs, and the Circle provides a genuinely professional environment in a world-class and enjoyable listening room. That’s hard enough to find anymore, but it still has its place. So I’m pretty excited about this Sinner’s Circle show. People are going to love these songwriters.
Garde: Talk about the artists you chose to share the stage with you. You’ve known Eddie Seville a while, right?
Carpenter: I’ve played a few shows with Eddie, and I just really like him. He’s, like, he’s more of the Springsteen type, you know, an Eddie & the Cruisers guy. Like that John Cafferty song “On the Dark Side.” He’s THAT Eddie only he’s a REAL Eddie, and it’s so cool. He’s a rock star. He writes great up-tempo tunes but he can write really nice mellow stuff, too.
Garde: Tell us about Allysen Callery.
Carpenter: I haven’t done any gigs with Alison, but I’ve seen and heard her play and love her songs. She’s very interesting because she reminds me of … she hearkens back to someone like a Judy Collins. I don’t mean to date Allysen’s music because it’s NOT dated. It’s new stuff, and it’s fresh, but it has sophistication and beautiful melodies played in simple fashion. It comes across really well and all you need to know she’s special is just to see her perform with an acoustic guitar.
(Laughs) Alison might not like to hear the Judy Collins comparison; maybe she would rather be compared to Billie Eilish. Either way, though. The quality is there and she’s just a breath of fresh air.
Garde: Avi Jacobs has built a pretty good following when he comes through the area.
Carpenter: Yeah, that kid! Holy cow. We did some shows with him and every time I hear him, he has even more great songs. He really has something. In a different context, after I got to know him a bit, he reminded me physically of someone and I couldn’t figure it out. Then one night we were all having dinner after a show and he caught me looking at him and then down at my phone. I was searching, thinking “Who the hell does this kid look like?”
And, Ari goes, “What are you doing?”
Just then, I found it. And I said, “I found it! You look just like Montgomery Cliff!”
And I don’t think he knew who that was, and he must have thought I was crazy. I said, “No, that’s a helluva compliment. Montgomery was a very handsome guy. Plus, you write great songs!”
Garde: When you reached out to these artists, were they aware of Sinner’s Circle? And what was the reaction? Clearly, they accepted.
Carpenter: Yeah. I mean, think about it. All you’ve got to do is say, “Oh, yeah, the show’s at the Garde Theater,” you know? Who the heck wouldn’t want to play the Garde? It wasn’t a hard sell, believe me.