Mary Chapin Carpenter’s new album, "Come Darkness Come Light: Twelve Songs of Christmas," is the best thing I’ve heard in years — and the best Christmas album I’ve ever heard, period. It is thoughtful and spare and beautiful and totally addictive. I told her that I listen to it every morning when I dress and every evening when I dress (up) to go out again. I’ll also be listening to it long after the holidays are over. But then, she has gotten me through many of the major moments of my life. Years ago, when I canceled my wedding, rather at the last minute, “Quitting Time” was my anthem. Like me, she did not marry until she was in her 40s, and I have always felt an enormous kinship with her. And now, as my mother would say, “bless her heart,” she is managing the hard task of getting me through Christmas. I chatted with her briefly via e-mail — I’m in New Orleans and she is in Virginia — and this is what she generously had to say:

JULIA REED: You told me that this is a non-commercial labor of love in a world of commercial music. What made you decide to do it? And why a Christmas album?

MARY CHAPIN CARPENTER: This is an album that I have been thinking about doing for more than 20 years, ever since I got my first recording contract with Columbia. Every year that I was on the label they asked me to do a Christmas album, but they were specific about the kinds of songs that they expected to be on it — classic holiday songs that are well-known, and in that vein of thinking, more commercial. I love all Christmas music, but didn’t feel that I could bring something new or different to those classics. I do think a great example of someone bringing something fresh to the music is this year’s new Tony Bennett CD, "A Swinging Christmas." The arrangements are great and Tony’s singing is so rich. In thinking about my own effort, I knew that I wanted it to be spare and mostly acoustic. After all these years have passed, I have quite a list of songs that I knew I would want to record if I had the chance to do something more artistic. My current label, Rounder, was enthusiastic and all the pieces of the puzzle fell together. Half of the record is comprised of songs that I have loved for years and the other half are original songs.

JULIA: What drew you to the songs on it that are not your own?

MARY: The songs that aren’t mine have been taking up space in my mental Rolodex for a while now. Certain carols such as "Once in Royal David’s City" and "Candlelight Carol" are favorites because they are a part of every Christmas I have at home. "Once In Royal David’s City" opens the processional every year on the live BBC broadcast from Cambridge of lessons and carols. I like to wrap presents while listening to it. "Candlelight Carol" was written by John Rutter, who I idolize. Everything he does as a composer and as the conductor of the Cambridge Singers is sublime to me. Then there are songs such as "Hot Buttered Rum" and "On a Quiet Christmas Morn" that I learned from my friends in the Shenandoah Valley, Robin and Linda Williams. Their music is soulful and full of grace.

The only sort of "classic" holiday CD song on here is "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," a song which always kills me. Why that song?

This was a song that was a "bonus" track. Nowadays you record a few bonus tracks that appear with the CD depending upon where you buy it. We decided to record this chestnut because of how it reflects the lives and experiences of so many people right now — those who are serving in the armed forces overseas and thus far from home, those who because of financial hardships are unable to celebrate like they normally would. It’s a song that has been around for decades, yet it feels as if it could have been written just yesterday. To me it is about nostalgia, longing, loneliness and perseverance.