A Map of Sound

Carrie Newcomer looks delicate and speaks very softly about her music. The American singer-songwriter is in India on a five-city tour with the American Center but don’t let her appearance fool you. Once Newcomer starts to sing,there is a deep voice that resonates sweetly as her songs seek to find the “sacred in the ordinary”.

“When I don’t write the world gets confusing,” says Newcomer,51,who will be playing from her 13th album The Geography of Light as well as some songs from her latest offering called Before and After. Words are at the center of Newcomer’s work,they turn themselves into lyrics as she strings chords between them,holding them together in a folk,acoustic tradition that has survived every digital wave the music industry has seen so far. “Folk is coming back differently than it did in 1960s and there is more song writing today than some years ago,” says Newcomer,who is constantly writing while she travels,in notebooks,sometimes even on a table napkin. “The process of songwriting is one of elegance. Simple is not easy,every word has to count,” she adds.

On Thursday and Saturday,Newcomer will sing songs such as Leaves don’t drop ,they just let go,Geodes and There is a tree ,accompanying herself on guitar and we can expect a full-bodied acoustic evening replete with memorable hooks,hummable tunes,and choruses one can carry on the way out. “I’m fascinated by the world we live in,the people around us and most of my music is about the various emotions one experiences daily,how frustrating,trying and yet how wonderful life and people are,” says Newcomer,adding that Mary Chapin Carpenter,Patty Griffin and Joni Mitchell are among the greats who have influenced her work over the years. Incidentally,Chapin Carpenter has even sung in The Geography of Light.

Her new work Before and After is about change and how constant it is. “How do we gracefully move while we are in transition,” asks Newcomer. If you’d like some answers,a date with Newcomer is advisable.