Vanessa Carlton's new album, "Liberman," is like a walk in the woods, which should come as no surprise from someone who grew up in her own tree-lined fantasyland near Milford, Pa., and the Delaware River.
Carlton hasn't spent much time in Pike County since her song "A Thousand Miles" took off in 2002, so the now 33-year-old singer-songwriter is looking forward to her upcoming area mini-tour, which includes a stop at the Newton Theatre. And from her comments, received in a recent email, she still cares deeply for the natural environs where she spent her youth.
"I'm happy this is close to home. I've never been to the Newton Theatre. I think my parents are gonna come. For me growing up in Milford was awesome. My parents lived on a house on a hill with weeping willow trees. The property in and around Milford and near the Delaware in general is magic. We must protect it," she said.
Carlton, who has released a single, "I'll Wait for You," on iTunes in advance of her fifth album, due out soon, will perform at the Newton Theatre on Friday, June 13 at 8 p.m. The tour also includes stops at World Cafe Live in Wilmington, Del., June 12, Westhampton Beach PAC in Westhampton, N.Y., June 15 and the Musikfest Cafe in Bethlehem, Pa., June 20.
Aside from nature, Carlton's interests in her youth were music and dance -- no surprise since her mother was a music teacher. At 14 she enrolled at the School of American Ballet at Lincoln Center in New York City. But by the time she graduated, she somehow knew her future was in music.
"I was always in choir growing up even when I was dancing. My switch from dance to music was natural. Music was always first," said Carlton, who considers herself a songwriter, first and foremost.
Carlton was signed to A&M Records in 2001 after working the New York club circuit for a time. After a few false starts, A&M finally released her first album, "Be Not Nobody," when Ron Fair took over production of the album. "Be Not Nobody" debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 chart on the strength of the hit "A Thousand Miles," which had peaked at No. 5 on Billboard's Hot 100. The song garnered Grammy Award nominations for Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s). The album went on to sell more than two million copies worldwide and produce two more singles, "Ordinary Day" and "Pretty Baby."
Carlton began touring in support of her debut album, opening for the Goo Goo Dolls and Third Eye Blind, before headlining her own U.S. and European tours in 2002 and 2003.
Carlton created three more albums between 2004 and 2011. Her second, "Harmonium," produced by Steve Jenkins of Third Eye Blind, was more representative of Carlton's own musical vision than her first. But her noncomformist attitude created a rift with the record company and she parted ways with A&M in 2005. Her third album, "Heroes and Thieves," debuted at No. 44 and was generally well received, as the single "Hands On Me" reached Billboard's Top 10.
"Rabbits on the Run" (Razer & Tie, 2011) followed a lost and reclusive period for Carlton, during which she was also listening to and soaking up all forms of music. The result was a melodic, unpredictable, lilting and atmospheric set of songs, recorded at Peter Gabriel's Real World studios in England with a team of collaborators led by producer Steve Osborne.
Back on track, Carlton has been working with Osborne again on her latest effort, and again they're changing the boundaries of her music.
"I wanted to go deeper into the atmospheric sounds that Steve Osborne and I created on ‘Rabbits on the Run.' This album, ‘Liberman,' is an album for headphones. The one that you listen to when you walk. It feels like a dream to me. And then at the end you wake up," Carlton said.
Carlton's quiet period between her third and fourth albums may have been due, in part, to burn-out -- working too hard and trying too hard to duplicate the success of "Be Not Nobody." Now older and wiser, she understands the difficulty of separating the art from the business, and of looking to the future with an open mind.
"Like most writers that get lucky with a song that everybody loves, you have no idea what's coming," Carlton said. "I treat all my songs the same and they all come to me in the same way. I love writing little instrumental riffs on the piano. I think that's what makes that song unique. The lyrics are basic. The structure is basic. The composing is me drawing on Aaron Copeland's ‘Rodeo'."
Carlton, who married Deer Tick singer John McCauley last December, doesn't know what's on her horizon -- more recordings and tours, scoring for motion pictures, dancing or acting are possibilities.
One thing she is sure of is that she will continue growing ... "like the trees" in Milford.
