Carrie Newcomer returns to stomping grounds for folk concert Jan. 28

Event/Lecture/Concert: Carrie Newcomer Concert

Date: Friday, Jan. 28

Time: 7:30 p.m.

Location: Sauder Concert Hall, Goshen College Music Center

Cost:General admission tickets are $10 and $3 for students with ID. Tickets are available by calling the Goshen College Welcome Center at (574) 535-7566 or e-mailing joannp@goshen.edu.

Web site: www.carrienewcomer.com

GOSHEN, Ind. – The Goshen College campus has changed a lot since Carrie Newcomer was a student in the early 1980s. But the sing-songwriter will find many fans in the area happy to welcome her back to her old stomping grounds to perform at Goshen College in a venue very different than the performance halls of her student days.

Newcomer, who describes herself as a folk singer from the middle of Indiana, will perform on Friday, Jan. 28 at 7:30 p.m. in Goshen College Music Center’s Sauder Concert Hall.

A nationally known singer-songwriter, Newcomer says of her lilting, personal music, “[My] songs focus on relationships and the human story. They are about sorrow and joy, humor and despair, loss and hope. Things we cherish and things we always grieve.” Newcomer, a Quaker, has a deep interest in spiritual truths and questions emerge in her music. While her music describes human relationships, she is not limited to romantic relationships, as her music reflects on family relationships, community relationships, political relationships and spiritual relationships. She also adds humor to her music by singing about bowling alleys and hometown diners.

Newcomer began listening to the blues and Motown played on Chicago radio stations while growing up in Elkhart, Ind. After nearly two decades of storytelling and making music, Newcomer currently lives in wooded southern Indiana with her husband and two dogs.

Newcomer’s newest album, Betty’s Diner: The Best of Carrie Newcomer, is a collection of 15 songs from her previous Philo releases, as well as three new songs. Newcomer began her solo career in 1991 with the album Visions And Dreams, which was reissued by Rounder/Philo four years later.

With eight albums to her credit, Newcomer has appeared at Carnegie Hall and has shared the stage with Alison Krauss, Bonnie Raitt and Mary Chapin Carpenter. Newcomer won the 2002 Folkwax Album and Artist of the Year Award and was named Bloomington, Indiana’s “Woman of the Year” for her activism and contributions to her community. She has also received critical acclaim in Rolling Stone, USA Today and Acoustic Guitar.

Newcomer said, “Activism is an integral part of my work and life and I take the old Quaker adage of ‘let your life speak’ completely to heart. It means that who I am and what I believe should be evident in the manner I choose to walk this life. This is easy to say, but very challenging to do. My activism is a natural outgrowth of how I view the world and live in it. The extent of the sorrows of this world can be overwhelming. There is so much to do, and we are only individuals. But we are all born with gifts and talents and our own small share of the burden to carry. One life can make a difference. I believe that.”

According to Barbara Kingsolver, the best-selling author of The Poisonwood Bible and The Bean Trees, Newcomer takes on more roles than just a musician. “She’s a poet, storyteller, snake-charmer, good neighbor, friend and lover, minister of the wide-eyed gospel of hope and grace,” she said.

General admission tickets are $10 and $3 for students with ID. Tickets are available by calling the Goshen College Welcome Center at (574) 535-7566 or e-mailing joannp@goshen.edu.

The concert is sponsored by the CALL project, which encourages students to reflect on and explore the concept of vocation.

Goshen College, established in 1894, is a four-year residential Christian liberal arts college rooted in the Anabaptist-Mennonite tradition. The college’s Christ-centered core values – passionate learning, global citizenship, compassionate peacemaking and servant-leadership – prepare students as leaders for the church and world. Recognized for its unique Study-Service Term program, Goshen has earned citations of excellence in Barron’s Best Buys in Education, “Colleges of Distinction,” “Making a Difference College Guide” and U.S.News & World Report’s “America’s Best Colleges” edition, which named Goshen a “least debt college.” Visit www.goshen.edu

– by Anna Groff

Editors: For more information about this release, to arrange an interview or request a photo, contact Goshen College News Bureau Director Jodi H. Beyeler at (574) 535-7572 or jodihb@goshen.edu.

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Goshen College, established in 1894, is a residential Christian liberal arts college rooted in the Anabaptist-Mennonite tradition. The college’s Christ-centered core values – passionate learning, global citizenship, compassionate peacemaking and servant-leadership – prepare students as leaders for the church and world. Recognized for its unique Study-Service Term program, Goshen has earned citations of excellence in Barron’s Best Buys in Education, “Colleges of Distinction,” “Making a Difference College Guide” and U.S. News & World Report’s “America’s Best Colleges” edition, which named Goshen a “least debt college.” Visit www.goshen.edu.