While largely composed of songs she wrote herself or with longtime producer John Jennings, her discography includes covers of Gene Vincent, Lucinda Williams, and Dire Straits, among others.

[12] Folk singer Shawn Colvin, a frequent collaborative partner for Carpenter, sang duet vocals on the closing track "The Moon and St. Christopher".

[18] Jim Bohen of the Morristown, New Jersey, Daily Record thought that the album was more upbeat than its predecessors, citing "You Win Again" and "Down at the Twist and Shout" as examples.

[17] Mike DeGagne of AllMusic thought that the involvements of BeauSoleil and Colvin helped expand Carpenter's sound; he also praised her lyrics on "Halley Came to Jackson" and her vocal delivery on "What You Didn't Say".

[2] A decade after its 1992 release, it was certified quadruple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), honoring shipments of four million copies in the United States.

"Shut Up and Kiss Me" and "Tender When I Want to Be" both featured backing vocals from Trisha Yearwood, while Lee Roy Parnell played slide guitar on both the former and closing track "This Is Love".

[29] Reviewing the album for AllMusic, Thom Jurek stated that "Carpenter cut back on the number of hooks in her melodies, creating a palette that required closer listening to appreciate".

[35] She also expressed disdain toward A Place in the World, as she felt her management had pressured her into making a "commercially viable" album instead of letting her choose songs she wanted to record.

Fierstein was supportive of Carpenter's decision to slow the pace of her career, and encouraged her to focus on touring and selecting songs until she felt she was ready to make another album.

[12] Eli Messinger of Country Standard Time thought that the more up-tempo tracks such as "Down at the Twist and Shout" and "Shut Up and Kiss Me" showed "just how much fun Carpenter can be", while overall praising the album for including the majority of her hit singles.

[40] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic said of the album that it "found Carpenter departing somewhat from her country-inflected sound and ruminating on relationships and career from a distinctly middle-aged perspective".

She also told Dave Scheiber of the Tampa Bay Times that while the album's songs were positively received in concert, she was disappointed by the lack of radio play and questioned whether she still considered herself a country artist.

[2] Before its release, she stated in an interview with National Public Radio (NPR) that the title track was inspired by the death of songwriter Dave Carter.

[2] For this album, Carpenter chose session pianist Matt Rollings to produce, as she wanted to achieve a different production style than John Jennings offered.

She also included renditions of the carol "Once in Royal David's City" and the African-American spiritual "Children, Go Where I Send Thee", in addition to a number of songs she wrote herself.

She stated that the two intentionally sought to make the recording "spare", and thus did most of the songs with Jennings playing various acoustic instruments and Jon Carroll on piano.

[60] Allison Stewart of The Washington Post wrote that it had "woeful and beautiful coffeehouse folk songs, decorated with sparing, almost offhanded instrumentation that’s often limited to guitars and pianos.

"[63] In 2014, Carpenter's touring schedule included a mix of orchestral performances comprising selections from Songs from the Movie, as well as acoustic sets featuring Jon Carroll, multi-instrumentalist John Doyle, and opening act Tift Merritt.

This album, The Things That We Are Made Of, was released in 2016 via Carpenter's own Lambent Light Records label,[2] with distribution rights by Thirty Tigers.

Carpenter promoted the album with a number of dates throughout 2016, starting with a concert at Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., that July.

[74][75] A year later, she joined Billy Ray Cyrus, Kathy Mattea, Tanya Tucker, and Pam Tillis on Dolly Parton's single "Romeo".

[78] Also in 1994, Carpenter and Kim Richey sang backing vocals on Tillis' cover of Jackie DeShannon's "When You Walk in the Room", a single from the album Sweetheart's Dance.

[2] In the Virgin Encyclopedia of Country Music, Colin Larkin noted the use of electric guitar in her more upbeat material such as "Passionate Kisses" and "The Hard Way", while also referring to "House of Cards" as "thought-provoking".

"[8] Larry Katz of the Red Deer Advocate contrasted her with Yearwood and Wynonna Judd, noting that unlike those artists, Carpenter usually wrote her songs herself instead of relying on Nashville-based songwriters.

[1] Alanna Nash of Entertainment Weekly thought that by being a graduate of an Ivy League college, Carpenter "seemed the least likely female to go the distance on the country charts".

[23] Similarly, Katz thought that her upbringing was atypical of country music, which is more commonly associated with demographics pertaining to the rural Southern United States.

[1] Nash also noted the difference between "decidedly noncountry themes like Halley’s Comet and the spiritual life of old shirts" in contrast to her more up-tempo material such as "Down at the Twist and Shout".

[23] In a review of Stones in the Road for the same publication, Browne contrasted that album with Come On Come On, saying of the latter that "her square-jawed voice, leaner lyrics, and the sturdy-as-a-wooden-fence folk rock combined to make a deserved[...]breakthrough.

[89] Eli Messinger of Country Standard Time described her singing voice as having "empathic clarity and force", particularly on "Passionate Kisses" and "He Thinks He'll Keep Her".

[39] Keefe found influences of folk and country pop in her 1990s albums, but thought that much of her work in the 21st century was "mixed" due to a lack of uptempo material and lyrical themes which he considered too similar to each other.