Mary Chapin Carpenter

Though it was the country charts that gave Mary Chapin Carpenter her biggest hits in the '80s and '90s, Carpenter was never fully comfortable being labeled as a country artist, since her music also touched on folk, rock and pop that didn't have much of a place in the world of contemporary country radio. Now that she's no longer on a major label, Carpenter is even more keen to explore those other sides of her songwriting. Recorded in the wake of her father's death, a serious illness and a rough bout of depression, her 11th and latest studio album, <i>Ashes and Roses</i>, is perhaps her most turbulent yet.