The Music Café - 29/12/2010

Mary Chapin Carpenter, Tracey Thorne and Judy Tzuke talk to Bruce MacGregor about relaunching their careers, all for very different reasons. Five-times Grammy award-winner Mary Chapin Carpenter had to put her career on hold three years ago when she suffered a debilitating illness. She reveals how she took inspiration from that experience and put it into her latest album, The Age Of Miracles. Tracey Thorne - perhaps best known for being part of the hugely successful Everything But The Girl - talks about returning to recording and performing after taking time out to have children and how she she's started to take inspriation from previously untouched, everyday subjects like divorce and menopause, as featured in her new album Love And Its Opposite. Singer-songerwriter Judy Tzuke, who has been at the forefront of the music world since the 70s, talks about how, after a 3-year absence, she was persuaded to get back on stage for her Moon On A Mirrorball tour. She also reveals how she manages to overcome stage-fright and why her fans often help her with the occasional mental block over lyrics.