By David Bauder
The Associated Press

The impish image of Tracy Chapman on the cover of her new CD tells no secrets.

It's only in meeting her face-to-face, where the flecks of gray in her dreadlocks are visible, does it hit you that it's been 14 years since Ms. Chapman's attention-grabbing debut.

On the strengths of songs like "Fast Car" and "Talking 'Bout a Revolution," Ms. Chapman had an instant hit album - a rare feat, then and now, for the introspective songwriting that dominates her work.

A few months ago, Ms. Chapman was moving boxes in her home when she came across articles and memorabilia from those days.

The attention hadn't really registered then. "Now I see why my friends wouldn't go to a movie with me," she said. "They didn't want to deal with the hysteria."

The commercial success, duplicated with the 1996 hit "Give Me One Reason," has benefits beyond the obvious financial ones.

"Having a record that does so well gave me the freedom that I feel like I exercise now in making music that I like, that I might not otherwise be able to make, at least not with a record company like this," said Ms. Chapman, 38.

Her latest disc, Let it Rain, was released last week on Elektra Records. It is exactly what one would expect from a Tracy Chapman album - mostly quiet, sincere, non-trendy ruminations on love and relationships.

There's no overriding theme, although Ms. Chapman jokes that with the songs like "Let it Rain" and "Another Sun," plus a reference to "the wind on my face," she should promote her music on the Weather Channel.

The subdued music and a cut like "Happy," where the narrator is anything but, won't do anything to change a dour image. But there is variety: "You're the One" is a playful take on the common theme of falling in love with someone your friends say is no good for you.

"I'm never really sure when I start working on a song where it comes from, why I'm writing about it at that particular time," she said. "The ideas and the feelings kind of flow through. I'm never sure if the next song is going to be a song about love or a song about a tree."

A full band is used on most songs but is muted. The emphasis, as usual, is on Ms. Chapman's voice.

"There is an intimacy that makes it kind of quiet-seeming," she said. "That was something I wanted. It seems like (the songs) wanted to be recorded in such a way so it could feel like you were in the room at the time."