Looking for the Thread

The trio of Mary Chapin Carpenter, Julie Fowlis, and Karine Polwart first came together as a writing experiment coming out of the pandemic lockdown. With touring off the calendar, multi-Award winning US singer-songwriter Carpenter was looking for something new and reached out to Fowlis and Polwart, two highly acclaimed Scottish singer-songwriters whose work she had long admired. Prompted by admiration and respect for each other’s work, the trio quickly came up with a plan and, once able, met in Northern Scotland for an extended writing retreat to see what magic could be made. The success of this initial experiment led to a second writing session and, in early 2024, the 10-song album Looking For The Thread was recorded at Real World Studios in Box, England, with Josh Kaufman (Bob Weir, The National, The Hold Steady) producing and a world-class band of musicians: Rob Burger (piano, organ, accordion, keys), Chris