State of the Heart is singer-songwriter Mary Chapin Carpenter's second album. It is much more country sounding than her preceding basically folk début Hometown Girl. State of the Heart eventually rose to the No. 28 position on the Billboard Country Albums chart, with four of its tracks finding places within the Hot Country Singles chart. Chronologically, they were "How Do" at No. 19, "Never Had It So Good" at No. 8, "Quittin' Time" at No. 7, and "Something of a Dreamer" at No. 14.

State of the Heart
Studio album by Mary Chapin Carpenter
Released	June 13, 1989
Genre	Country
Length	38:21
Label	Columbia Nashville
Producer	Mary Chapin Carpenter John Jennings
Mary Chapin Carpenter chronology
Hometown Girl (1987) State of the Heart (1989) Shooting Straight in the Dark (1990)
Singles from State of the Heart
"How Do" Released: April 15, 1989 "Never Had It So Good" Released: September 2, 1989 "Quittin' Time" Released: January 6, 1990 "Something of a Dreamer" Released: June 16, 1990

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
Chicago Tribune	[2]
Q	[3]

Track listing

All songs written by Mary Chapin Carpenter unless noted.

1. "How Do" – 2:09
2. "Something of a Dreamer" – 2:56
3. "Never Had It So Good" (Carpenter, John Jennings) – 4:04
4. "Read My Lips" – 3:05
5. "This Shirt" – 3:48
6. "Quittin' Time" (Robb Royer, Roger Linn) – 3:52
7. "Down in Mary's Land" – 2:27
8. "Goodbye Again" – 4:47
9. "Too Tired" – 2:28
10. "Slow Country Dance" – 4:00
11. "It Don't Bring You" – 4:45

Production

• Mary Chapin Carpenter, John Jennings – producers
• Bob Dawson – production assistance, recording, mixing
• Ted Jensen – mastering

The band

• Mary Chapin Carpenter – acoustic guitars, lead & backing vocals
• John Jennings – electric & acoustic guitars, synthesizers, backing vocals, bass ("Too Tired"), piano ("This Shirt")
• Peter "Tex Luigi" Bonta – accordion, keyboards, acoustic guitar ("How Do")
• Jon Carroll – organ, piano, keyboards
• Rico Petrucelli – bass, fretless bass
• Robbie Magruder – drums, percussion

Additional personnel

• Mike Auldridge – dobro, pedal steel ("Slow Country Dance")
• Tommy Hannum – pedal steel ("How Do")
• Rickie Simpkins – fiddle, mandolin
• Shawn Colvin – backing vocals
• Kim Miller, David Premo, Bruce Myers, Steven Day – string quartet ("Goodbye Again")
• William Zsembery – French horn
• Strings written, arranged & conducted by Rico Petrucelli

Charts

References