Carole King

Those born too late to truly appreciate Carole King’s 1971 classic, Tapestry, might believe that her greatest contribution to pop culture was Really Rosie, the soundtrack for an animated show based on Maurice Sendak’s children’s stories. Catchy numbers like “Pierre,” the cautionary tale about a snotty boy who was eaten by a lion, and “The Ballad of Chicken Soup With Rice” kept us sitting too close to the TV all those years when they were slipped into the Electric Company and Schoolhouse Rock mix. But the truth is, King’s songwriting career goes back forty-plus years; recently she’s collaborated with Semisonic’s Dan Wilson, a songwriter whose impulse for sweet and bouncy pop suggests that he, too, may have spent some time sitting too close to the television. Her new album, The Living Room Tour, comprises two CDs’ worth of recordings from last year’s tour, which she is said to have enjoyed so much that she’s hitting the road again this summer. 612-339-7007; www.hennepintheatredistrict.com