The minor chord greatness of Jim Carpenter

BIO: Jim Carpenter is not just one of the area's finest
tunesmiths, his work is well known in Nashville, Chicago, Key West, Boston and Miami — all locales where he's placed strongly in songwriting competitions. He grew up in Virginia and has lived all
over. He spends several weeks a year in Nashville, but resides in Niantic with his wife Robin and son Jake.

SOUND: Both as a solo artist (on the "Bahia Honda" album) and as leader of the roots band The Hoolios (the "Rosalie" and "Silver Triangle" CDs), Carpenter's songs reflect his Southern upbringing, the Southern literary tradition, and a decided sense of melodic narrative style that recalls Townes Van Zandt, Robert Earl Keen, Steve Forbert, and Marc Cohn.

HOW "HE GAVE HER ROSES" WAS BORN: Carpenter had a vivid dream from which he awoke with two lines resonating in his brain: "He gave her roses /She made a crown of thorns" — and immediately thought they'd fit in a novel he was writing. But an incessant melody and a minor-key Delta guitar figure somehow tied themselves to the lines and he knew it would have to be a song. As with most of his compositions, it sort of appeared to him fully formed — melodically and structurally — after he reflected on the initial creative impulses.

WHAT THE SONG IS ABOUT: By his own admission, "He Gave Her Roses" is the tune Carpenter has the hardest time discussing —
and that alone was perhaps part of the reason he chose it for Song Spinner. The story is about a lonely preacher who marries a beautiful woman suffering from mental illness. "It's very dark," Carpenter says, "and it reflects a lot of what I think about in terms of the nature of religion and how it affects you as you go through life."

WHAT HAPPENED NEXT: For the Song Spinner session, Carpenter says it was the first time he actually sang the song in public. From the moment he wrote it, he envisioned Hoolios keyboardist Mike
Derry as the ideal person to sing the tune — and in fact it is Derry's voice on the version of the song that appears on the "Rosalie"
album. Given the nature of the tune and its special meaning to Carpenter, he arranged to record it in an acoustically perfect and
gorgeous old Grassy Hill Congregational Church in Old Lyme.

FOR MORE "ROSES": There are several upcoming opportunities to see Carpenter and the Hoolios perform: 8 p.m. tonight, Bishops Gate Zydeco Party, Exeter, R.I.; 7 p.m. Thursday, Jonathan Edwards Winery, Stonington; 8 p.m. July 17, Bulkeley House, New London; 3 p.m. July 18, Tamarack Lodge BBQ Party, Voluntown. For more
information: locodare.com.