New Album, "Looking For The Thread," from Mary Chapin Carpenter, Julie Fowlis, and Karine Polwart

Mary Chapin Carpenter, Julie Fowlis, and Karine Polwart have announced the release of their new album "Looking For The Thread" on January 24; an exciting debut collaboration from the three artists. The album is available for pre-order now.

The first single “Hold Everything” is out now. Penned by Karine Polwart, the song gives a nod to the world, as it is, and to John Berger’s beautiful and devastating 2008 book Hold Everything Dear: Dispatches on Survival and Resistance.

No-one quite knew what to expect when Mary Chapin sought a collaboration with two of the most adventurous and versatile artists in Scottish music, Julie Fowlis and Karine Polwart – least of all the
trio themselves.

The results, it transpires, rank among the career highlights of all three. Conceived in the remote west of Scotland and recorded in Spring 2024 at the renowned Real World studios, Looking For The Thread is a rich, resonant and unique record, one which supports and illuminates the core characteristics of each artist while bringing a powerful collective identity to the fore.

The 10-track album is produced by Bonny Light Horseman’s Josh Kaufman (Bob Weir, The National, The Hold Steady) and features a world-class musical ensemble: Rob Burger (piano, organ, accordion, keys), Chris Vatalaro (drums, percussion), Cameron Ralston (bass) and Kaufman himself (guitar, keys). The stunning contributions of Caoimhin O’Raghallaig, whose globally recognised innovations on
the hardanger d’amore, a ten-string fiddle, can be heard in The Gloaming, in productions at the Abbey Theatre and in the film Brooklyn, encapsulate the collective spirit of adventure and creativity which defined the sessions.