Scottish songwriter, folk-singer and storyteller Karine Polwart has joined forces with Mary Chapin Carpenter and Julie Fowlis for their debut collaboration album, Looking For The Thread. This March, the trio play six UK shows, and Polwart is also doing solo dates around the country. Along with Fowlis, Polwart is a member of folk ‘supergroup’ Spell Songs, the musical evolution of the Lost Words and Lost Spells books by author Robert Macfarlane and artist Jackie Morris. They are performing in Edinburgh at Usher Hall in May.
Karine, how did Looking For The Thread come about? You, Julie and Mary Chapin are three very different voices.Â
The earliest connection is between Mary Chapin and Julie, who met on a Transatlantic Sessions tour. That’s an annual project that happens at Celtic Connections. As a result of that, Mary Chapin ended up recording a couple of songs for one of Julie’s albums. To my knowledge, prior to this, I’d only met Mary Chapin once, in Glasgow in 2012 the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. There’s a video that shows that I was on stage with her, but I think I was probably a wee bit star struck! Â
I know Mary Chapin really only through online, because she did this thing during COVID called ‘Songs from home’, where she recorded a song every day from her kitchen. The actual start of the project was when Julie phoned me and said: ‘I’ve just been on the phone to Mary Chapin Carpenter, and she wants to make an album with us’. I did not see that coming, so it kind of blindsided us both a wee bit. Mary Chapin said she had never made a collaborative album project before, and wanted to do this with us.Â
Did you all write songs individually, and then bring them to the table?
Mary Chapin came over in January 2023 to do a gig at Theatre Royal, Glasgow, and invited us to share a stage with her. Immediately after that gig, we went up to Ardnamurchan to try and see what would happen for a few days. I think we were up there for four nights just to try singing and writing together. We brought some material that we each had in our back pockets, and on the strength of that decided to keep going. None of the stuff on the album is co-written, but it all has the character of each of us individually. We did co-write as part of the process, but that didn’t make the final cut, and I think it was an important part of the journey. If you’ve heard the album, it’s very clear what each of us has brought to the table.Â
The first song on the album is sung in Gaelic, and I assumed you must speak it, but you actually learnt the lyrics phonetically?
It’s really important, even when you don’t speak the language, to understand what the sentiment of the song is. Julie walked us through the meaning of the two Gaelic songs that are on the album, but I don’t have any more Gaelic than Mary Chapin. Perhaps some of the rhythms and melodies are more familiar to me because I’ve sung a lot of Gaelic with other people, but I have done it in the same way as Mary Chapin, learning phonetically, and it’s actually kind of delightful.Â
This year marks 25 years since you embraced a full time career as a musician. Have you been reflecting on your career, and how this album fits into it?
It’s an interesting year to have this album, because it does feel a wee bit nuts. This tour that we’re going on, we’re going to play places like the London Palladium! When I gave up my job, I was running choirs, I was doing a lot of schools, workshops. I was booking gigs for other people. I was booking gigs for myself. It was nothing like what is happening on this tour. I don’t take any of it for granted. This is the most elevating collaboration I’ve ever been involved in, and I’ve been involved in lots of beautiful projects. I couldn’t have foreseen any of this when I gave up a salaried job: it was just a wing and a prayer. It’s taken a long time to have a sustainable living. I’m in an extremely privileged position now, but 15 years ago it was touch and go, whether I would keep going and be a musician. I don’t envy anybody starting out now. I think it’s rough now, so I feel really, really lucky. That’s the main thing, just gratitude to still be getting away with it.
Do you have any other dream collaboration projects?
I think what’s really interesting about this project is that it has come completely out of the blue. This, and making music, is about how your stuff goes into the world, and you have absolutely no idea where it lands.
It’s almost like, just make the stuff, make it meaningful, and beautiful things keep happening. I don’t think in terms of ambition. I think more about meaning than scale.
At the minute, I’m really interested in making things that are much smaller. Next year I’m going to write a book. I’ve got a theatre project that’s coming to the Fringe this year, so I’m stepping out of my comfort zone as a musician. I’m really interested in essay writing, spoken word, and radio documentaries. I’m a research geek. I’m embracing my inner archivist and librarian. I’m actually not really a very big character. I’m much happier in a pile of books than I am on stage, but don’t tell anyone!
Looking for The Thread is out now
Spells Songs perform at Usher Hall in Edinburgh on 18th May
