Personnel: Mary Chapin Carpenter (vocals, acoustic guitar, background vocals); John Jennings (electric guitar, background vocals).
Unknown Contributor Roles: Mark O'Connor ; Tony Rice.
Not counting the home-recorded, cassette-only effort she hawked at gigs (and ultimately used as a demo), HOMETOWN GIRL is Mary Chapin Carpenter's first album. Compared with her later releases, this is a fairly sedate affair, lacking as it does any anthemic Fleetwood Mac-ish folk-rock tracks.
HOMETOWN GIRL splits the difference between straight country ("A Lot Like Me," "A Road is Just a Road") and sensitive, singer/songwriter folky numbers consciously crafted as early '70s throwbacks ("Come on Home"). An excellent cover of Tom Waits' "Downtown Train" is the real surprise here. Carpenter doesn't quite match Waits' wounded bellow, but she does neatly erase memories of Rod Stewart's better-known version of the song.
