Folk singer's music orginates in the heart: ; FOOTMAD features Carrie Newcomer on Saturday

DAILY MAIL STAFF

"I never expected to do this," said Carrie Newcomer.

"At junior high school career day, itinerant folk singer wasnever on the list." But a folk singer she is, booked Saturday atthe Cultural Center Theater for Friends of Old-Time Music and Dance(FOOTMAD).

And where does she live? Not New York or Boston or Nashville, butBloomington, Ind., a "wonderful little jewel."

Newcomer, raised in northern Indiana, moved to Bloomington in1990 to be closer to her mother, "just for a year."

"I just fell in love with this musical community, and I'm stillhere," she said during a phone interview from her home.

"When people ask, 'Why aren't you in one of the music meccas?' Itell them that when you come right down to it, this is a wonderfullittle jewel. I've come to appreciate the voice that comes out ofthose places that aren't the music meccas. It has a voice all itsown, a very strong, powerful voice."

Newcomer grew up in Elkhart, Ind., where most of America's bandinstruments are made. "As a result, the public school had a greatmusic program. I played the flute and thought, 'Wow, I really likethis, this is cool.'

"Then I picked up the guitar in high school and fell in love withthe singing poets such as Joni Mitchell and Bruce Coburn. And Istarted singing in coffee houses, restaurants and bars while I wasin college."

But visual arts, not music, was her major at several Indianacolleges and at Purdue University, where she received her visualarts degree.

"But music was really calling louder," said Newcomer, whocontinued to tour regionally while raising a young daughter, Amelia.

"You follow your heart, it takes you where you need to go."

Also a poet, Newcomer writes both lyrics and music.

"I am a personal writer," she said, "but there is a line betweenpersonal and self indulgence which I try to never cross. I've triedto write about something very human, with honesty and respect. Iwrite about relationships, romantic, or maybe a family relationship,or spiritual or political. I write about things I'm happy about,things I grieve over, things I'm not proud of, or things I'm veryproud of.

"I don't censor it, which probably connects me to the folkworld," she said, quoting Ani DeFranko: "Folk is an attitude."

"The great thing about this genre of music is that you can end upanywhere - folk clubs, intimate coffeehouses, halls, wonderful oldtheaters, art centers or Carnegie Hall. Six years ago I played theRoyal Festival Theater in London, and a few months later I was inSan Antonio in a place where they push over the couch and you play.

"You're in very close contact with people, there's no insulationthat way. It can be exhausting, but incredibly energizing.

"This country is an amazing place. Every area has its ownpersonality and you really experience that when you travel. WestVirginia is not like Arizona.

"I did Mountain Stage in West Virginia a couple of months ago,"she said of her October appearance at Concord College in Athens.

While Newcomer usually writes alone, she averages onecollaboration per album.

"Collaborating is like kissing. With some people it really worksand some people it doesn't."

The latest collaboration, "When It's Gone It's Gone," is with herhusband, Robert Meitus, both a musician and a lawyer specializing inInternet and music law.

Saturday's program is billed as "The Bloomington Women" and alsowill feature Vida, an all-woman a capella quartet.

Vida began seven years ago on Indiana University's Bloomingtoncampus as a class project and has become a career for its fourmembers - Moira Smiley, Sarah Ferrell, Jessica Lewis and StephanieHerdman.

"We haven't performed together in a long time, except for abenefit last year," said Newcomer.

"It will be fun. Vida is just wonderful."

Concert time is 7:30 p.m., with tickets available at the doorbeginning at 6:30 p.m. Cost is $12 for adults, $10 for seniors andstudents, and free to those under 13. Free child care also will beavailable.

Advance tickets are on sale at Ellen's Ice Cream on CapitolStreet or at Fret 'n Fiddle in St. Albans.

Writer Julianne Kemp can be reached at 348-4806 or by e-mail atjuliek@dailymail.com.