Early in her set at Riverbend Thursday, Mary Chapin Carpenter told the crowd what a big fan she is of Steve Earle and how happy she was to have him as the opener on her summer tour.

        She probably picked him because she truly does like him. Or maybe she just wanted someone who country radio ignores even more than her.

        Whatever the case, these one-time stars of mainstream country made for a strange pair. Mr. Earle put on a rather relaxed set, but he and his three-man band, the Dukes, came off like the Sex Pistols compared with Ms. Carpenter and her band's uninspired stylings.

        The concert-attending public didn't exactly buy in. The crowd was light, despite the venue's attempt to fill the pavilion with ticket giveaways. Many of Mr. Earle's fans split right after his hour-long set, and there was a steady stream of people headed out the gates during Ms. Carpenter's set.

        At one point, she even resorted to asking people where they were going. “You're gonna miss (her hit) "Shut Up and Kiss Me,”' warned her bass player.

        And so it goes for the gal they call Chapin. A decade ago, she was as big as any female country star. She had lots of hits, including Lucinda Williams' “Passionate Kisses,” her best song of the show.

        But she never seemed comfortable in the country-star role, and she slowly morphed into what we had at Riverbend, a soft rocker with the suburban woman blues.

        She filled most of her hour-and-a-half show with material from her new album Time...Sex...Love..., and these songs seemed to share a theme of searching for happiness, and the unhappiness inherent in searching.

        Ms. Carpenter is the type who stands in the checkout line with a jar of Slimfast tucked under her arm, fretting over Madonna's latest exploits as detailed in this week's tabloids. She said exactly that after doing a song called “Simple Life,” about how complicated it is to have one.

        Not everyone relates to such perils and tribulations, and when made into slow, lifeless songs, they're even less engaging. But at the very least Ms. Carpenter deserves credit for turning her back on middle-of-the-road junk country for the less-profitable, middle-of-the-road stuff she now believes in.

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