It’s Carpenter, Doctor John Carpenters Cure for the Blues

In April of 2019, John Carpenter released Blue Horizon. A stunning entry into the genre of singer-songwriting filled with confidence and heart. It was a release that could be described as showing up to a party 50 years late with a mixtape of songs better than the ones everyone else has played 1,000 times. 

For two years the album has been in rotation in my music. I happened upon it when browsing for some electronic music to listen to on a bike ride. Under the works of film director John Carpenter, beneath his recently released solo efforts such as Lost Themes, was this album. I chose to give it a chance and during my bike ride down the Cherry Creek trail in Denver. I found myself falling in love with almost every track. 

So, I wrote a review. Going into detail about the history of John Carpenter’s directing career and the later revaluation of him as an electronic music pioneer.  I bragged to friends that admired his films and his electronic music. I planned on dropping the review, along with many other pieces of writing onto this website, where I aimed to create something.

Then I didn’t post it. Moreover I didn’t post anything until now, two years later. Life and the distractions that I allow myself to fall into, good and bad, got in the way of creating something. However I still loved this album and its impact remained. I decided recently that it was time to revisit this idea, and post the review that was all but posted on the blog. 

I did some additional research on the album, and numerous music sites funneled me to the John Carpenter filmmaker page. His official site made no mention of the album however. I kept digging, looking for an official connection. A search result led me to a facebook event for the album release party. In its description it said that “Singer/songwriter/guitarist/English professor Dr. John Carpenter has just completed his new album, Blue Horizon.” (Kilted Mermaid Facebook Event Page) The picture on the event page (seen below) also showed Carpenter looking younger and looser than the influential director John Carpenter usually appears.

I began to suspect that I had been wrong for two years! I held out a small sliver of hope that I had uncovered some kind of small conspiracy at play. After all, Wes Craven, a contemporary of Carpenters, had been a professor of English. Had John Carpenter been living an alternate life as an English professor and classic rocker in Florida? They only looked superficially similar, but it wasnt until I found a profile of Doctor Carpenter that I knew I had been wrong.

Who is Professor John Carpenter? 

Dr. John Carpenter is not some secretive alias for the filmmaker of the same name. Doctor Carpenter is a well regarded faculty member at Indian River State College in Fort Pierce, Florida. In March of 2020 he was recognized as the Faculty member of the month. In the college’s profile of him at that time they describe how “John earned his Associate in Arts Degree from Valencia Community College and his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the University of Central Florida.”(Lane) He would later earn a masters degree and a doctorate. As someone who attended community college, before transferring into a bachelors program, I found it moving to see a doctor with a community college degree in their qualifications. Beyond this the profile describes how the professor “…takes the time to give back to the community and works as a mentor for the Take Stock in Children program. In his free time, John uses his talents and gifts in communication and language as a songwriter; he also plays guitar in a local band.”(Lane)

This was the real deal. I had found the real John Carpenter behind Blue Horizon. He wasn’t a Hollywood legend, better yet, he was a regular guy out here living his best life and he was a teacher, like me.

Working as an English teacher has almost killed my love for reading and writing. Reading countless paragraphs written formulaically to meet the expectations of an assignment. Looking at texts merely as potential lessons, and not as the vibrant experiences they once were. Even worse, I have felt that my teaching of English was actively killing reading and writing for my students. Everyday, instructing them to complete work that doesn’t connect to their lives meaningfully or empower them to access what they are passionate about all in the pursuit of an arbitrary grade dictated by the standards. For me, and friends in teaching I have commisorated with, it can be a very demoralizing position to hold in public education, where students must receive four years of English credits to graduate high school. I bore witness to moments when students committed to giving up on their literacy and no amount of positive narration or differentiation could offset the years of negativity they associated with themselves in the context of reading, writing, and thinking.

However I also witnessed moments where students shined bright with potential. Their demeanor and actions reflected wit, tenacity, and hope and greater literacy than any test the state could measure within them. There were times that the unexpected maturity and thoughtfulness of my students blindsided me in the best of ways.  That is why one quote from Professor Carpenter, in an article from local Florida publication Hometown News, resonates with me.  In it he describes how he views his students.

“My students are my heroes. They have such full and, in many cases, difficult lives. Yet here they are furthering their knowledge so they can do something deeper and more interesting and profitable in their lives, and working hard to do it. Just knowing them and hearing their stories enriches me and gives me ideas.” (Winikoff)

Discovering this has been a surreal experience. I have been listening to this man sing about life and hope for years. These songs have become a part of my life, soundtracking  exhausted drives to my teaching job early in the morning, bike rides to relax during my free time, and my apartment while I worked on lesson plans or folded laundry. I had never known how much we had in common, but his music had bridged that unknown division. 

A Musical Bridge

The music, after all, is how Dr. Carpenter has affected me, so what about Blue Horizon is so good? In the same Hometown News article Carpenter describes the major themes of the album.

“‘The whole album is about dealing with change, and dealing with uncertainty in life,’ Mr. Carpenter said. ‘The title is the concept of looking to a better day; as you look up high on the horizon, there’s some blue sky up there. Just head toward that.’” (Winikoff)

Perhaps Blue Horizon hit me at just the right time in my life to resonate with me. My review, largely unchanged, reflected my fondness for it. In it I said that Blue Horizon is an instant classic in the mold of the 70’s singer-songwriter boom. A collection of music that could sit comfortably next to stacks of Warren Zevon, Jackson Browne, Eagles, and Cat Stevens records while speaking to our days in America now. 

The artwork for the album is a blue sky with hints of orange at the bottom set against a picture of a bird flying with a John Carpenter Logo stamped in the corner. It is immediately evocative of a 70’s country rock album; looking strikingly similar to the Eagles debut album from Asylum Records. 

In the expansive opening track “Now Now” Carpenter speculates that…

Change will come 
And with it fear 
Feel it now it’s been a year 
Smiling scared I don’t know how 
To face the void that makes now now.

Gorgeous guitar work is layered throughout as he and/or his session players get heavy enough to qualify some riffs alongside groups like Lynyrd Skynyrd and Prog Rock legends Rush. This wailing guitar invites the listener to push the gas pedal down as they drive down the highway listening to the title track “Blue Horizon.” The howls and screeches provide so much umph to the bridge that it’s hard to believe it isn’t George Thorogod on guitar and that I havent gotten a ticket listening to it. 

The genre of classic rock has been dominated by small pool of artists for decades. These acts have ebbed and flowed in popularity, enjoying an enduring relevance for their legacy releases. They release alternative takes of classic tracks to satiate demand, tour to play their hits, and sometimes release new music to appease long time fans asking for new music. Dr. John Carpenter has humbly offered up a new collection of classic rock songs that no one even thought to ask for. 

It’s powerful to see someone ignore time, trends, and past due dates for genres. Opting to release art that is created from their heart and believe me there is a lot of heart on this album.  After the first two stomping tracks he pulls back to more slow steel guitar driven compositions with reserved vocals reminiscent of Cat Stevens. As I heard his vocals groan and jostle I could feel them coming from someone with years of experience that truthfully emote the passing of time and the learning of life’s lessons. A groan that is evocative of Thom Yorke and Jackson Browne combined. A style informed by the progress of music since the 1970’s and yet inherently grounded in it. In the song Clear, Whole, and Beautiful he describes a scene all too common in the months of the pandemic.

It was early in the morning
when they came without a warning
shocked my brother thinkin it was me
Doctors nurses gonna live
somethings gotta give
now I’ll find another way to be.

The way he sings “somethings gotta give” is indescribably sad. Having seen a family member enter the hospital and never return, this lyric resonates with me almost too much, and for months brought a tear to my eye. As the song progresses, the aspirations of the narrator overtake the sadness of the piece. 

When they find out their mistake
They won’t give me a break
They’ll be back again to do it right
But if they don’t come soon
I’ll bust out of this cocoon
I’ll go missing flying toward the light

The lyrics are deeply moving and sympathetic, for who hasn’t longed to bust out of the cocoons they find themselves in life? The composition is calm and contemplative and the vocal delivery conveys the bittersweet passing of time in a way that only an experienced artist can. 

Carpenter also strikes a balance between the fast guitar tracks and the meditative balladry of the steel guitar tunes in the standout track of the album Another Step. In this song he seems to be offering life advice to himself and the listener, while not forgetting to rock while he does it. In one verse telling a story about getting up early in the morning to go to work, followed by a story about a failed relationship, adding in imagery of “ghosts in every storefront” in town. When he leaves the strolling pace of the verses he exclaims to the listener.

Maybe you have memories like I do
That make you ache a little bit
Kinda like a flu
When you go forgiving everybody else
Don’t forget that it’s okay if you forgive yourself

The sensibilities of this song remind me of Warren Zevon, who had a knack for knowing when to break the fourth wall and include the listener in his tales. It’s clear that Carpenter cares about the lessons he’s learned in life and cares even more about sharing them with others. In a time when people can be immeasurably hard on themselves, Carpenter reminds us that we should treat ourselves with more sympathy. Saying through his music that “I know that life is hard, it’s been hard for me. But you’ll get through it.” In John Carpenter’s world the night is long but it gives way to a blue horizon full of possibility and hope that he welcomes in the title track.

Come on Blue Horizon! 
The wind blows sweet and pure. 
Yesterday wont matter. 
Now I'm sure. 

An experienced musician trying to jump onto new trends is a commonality in classic rock, however this is an experienced musician choosing to build on that genre. It’s a refreshing thing to hear and I am very thankful that Doctor Carpenter released this album. If you, or a loved one are fond of classic rock and want something fresh. I would prescribe Blue Horizon: Dr. Carpenters own cure for the blues.

Sources

1. Lane, Robert. “Dr. John Carpenter is the March 2020 Faculty Member of the Month” https://irsc.edu/news/faculty-of-the-month/john-carpenter-fom-march-2020.html
2. Kilted Mermaid Facebook Event Page “John Carpenter’s ‘Blue Horizon’ Album Release Party” https://www.facebook.com/events/467080721258651/?paipv=0&eav=AfZXaeXO-q-zgpD1F-N9Mu6Eh7f9Hd0oaZDFeOY0kUfo0lA53C2OM3OIVihPNgykzLE&_rdr
3. Winikoff, Mike. “John Carpenter album release party June 5 in Vero Beach” https://www.hometownnewstc.com/arts_and_entertainment/john-carpenter-album-release-party-june-5-in-vero-beach/article_9da77632-c3ca-11eb-874d-e325b37c25e3.html
4. Carpenter, John. Blue Horizon. 2019.