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Carrie Newcomer throws the book at you.

by Mary Armstrong

Plain and simple, Carrie Newcomer is a storyteller. Never mind that she happens to favor singing her tales in a rich alto over committing them strictly to print. And a close listen reveals they are not all love stories. “I do write about relationships,” asserts Newcomer. “It’s just that some relationships are between people and the environment, people and politics.”

The press releases state the singer-songwriter is a Quaker and an activist... from Indiana? Those leanings came later in life. "My dad's family is Swiss/German Amish stock who left the order about three generations back," she says. "My mom's family was Italian. Both sides worked in the Studebaker plant. So, I'm just your average Midwesterner."

While at Goshen College, she was required to do a semester of service work. She chose Costa Rica and, during a break, visited Monte Verde. There she discovered a community of Quakers. The impact was profound and long-lasting. People tease her that it makes no sense for a musician to prefer silent pondering to joyful noise, she laughs, but that's where she finds her spirit most touched.

Her activism isn't hard to locate either: Each album tour dedicates a percentage of the proceeds to a group she endorses. A Gathering of Spirits (Philo) supports the Nature Conservancy. She quotes her friend, essayist/novelist Barbara Kingsolver in describing her approach, "A Œpolite firebrand' is what Barbara called me, saying incredibly radical stuff, but in a way that is human and real. It's not rhetoric, or hitting you on the head."

"I Heard an Owl" describes the physical reaction we have to deep trouble. Newcomer admits that while she doesn't publicize the fact, this song was written on Sept. 12, 2001, when most of us were feeling the same socked-in-the-solar-plexus way. She goes on in the song to paraphrase Dr. King, who reminded us that hate never changes hate, that love, no matter how hard it is to believe it sometimes, is the only thing that ever changes hate.

Trust Newcomer to provide you with literate listening. This CD alone also has references to Rumi, Jung and Rilke. And we can expect to hear more of this from the songwriter community. She laughs about being in a teaching workshop in Nashville with four other songwriters recently and how they had to be dragged back to the topic of songs once they had veered onto discussing their favorite recorded books, a staple on long road trips. She offers a chance to participate in those literary discussions on her website, where she and those who care to discuss a book a month.

Carrie Newcomer plays Thu., Oct. 31, 8 p.m., $12, with Don Conoscenti, Tin Angel, 20 S. Second St., 215-928-0770.