The geography of Newcomer

When folksinger Carrie Newcomer discovered her authentic Hoosier voice, she felt more comfortable with her writing and singing. The voice, which Newcomer describes as "a polite firebrand" is showcased on her 10th studio album The Geography of Light. It was recorded at Bloomington's AirTime Recording Studio.\n"(I) may be saying things that are radical, powerful and authentic but there is a certain kind of good-heartedness to it," Newcomer said.\nCarrie Newcomer will be performing her country-folk style of music Feb. 9 at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater. The show is a CD-release concert for The Geography of Light.\nNewcomer is currently on a nationwide tour that encompasses New York and Boston, among other cities.\nNewcomer is originally from Elkhart, Ind., but she moved to Bloomington in 1990 to be close to her ailing mother. Nearly two decades later, Newcomer still lives in Bloomington, and said the community inspires much of her work. \nHer song "Geodes" off Geography of Light is an example of how her music is inspired by Bloomington and Southern Indiana. \n"Around here we throw geodes in our gardens / They're as common as the rain or corn silk in July / Unpretentious browns and greys the stain of Indiana Clay."\n"('Geodes') is a statement of faith for me," Newcomer said. "Geodes are such a wonderful metaphor, and they're so commonplace here in Southern Indiana," she said.\n"They look like funky brown rocks from the outside, and then there's this amazing, sparkling center to them." \nNewcomer writes about other topics as well in her newest album, such as modern Internet connections. \nThe final track "Don't Push Send" is a deliberate departure from the album's stripped-down, slow-tempo songs. It features many strings and a sing-along beat. The song was inspired by stories Newcomer heard on the road about e-mail messaging gone awry. She said we are living in a world where we are easily connected to the Internet but at the same time more isolated from people than ever. \nThe song chronicles men and women who send e-mails in either aggravated or inebriated states of mind and the consequences that follow. \nThrough popular demand by her fans, the song has spurned the Web site dontpushsend.com that will be up later this month, Newcomer said. On the site, fans can download the song for free and post embarrassing e-mails they have either sent or received.\nThe goal of the Web site is to present the simple idea that "human beings are funny," Newcomer said. \nAfter a dozen albums in the last 15 years, Newcomer is a veteran writer and storyteller. She is involved in creative-writing workshops on college campuses such as Duke and Harvard and also conducted a workshop at an Indiana women's correctional facility. But she said she will always be an artist and songwriter before a teacher.\n"A song has to unfold in a very elegant way," Newcomer said. "It needs to be powerful, poetic and condensed. Something about that format makes me happy." \nBefore her tour begins, Newcomer reflected on herself and her growth as an artist.\n"What I find as an artist and a person, when I pay attention, when I peel back the layers of all these distractions and I get down to what really matters, that's where my life happens, that's where my art happens and that's where I see miracles," Newcomer said.