Melissa Carper & Bonnie Montgomery

Celebrated for her profoundly observational lyrics, her “homespun sensibility,” and a
voice that curls like a croon from a gramophone, Melissa Carper plays old school
country music that resonates across time and place. Carper’s repertoire weaves
together the threads of old-time, bluegrass, western swing, jazz, and blues that all
intertwined to form American country music, back in the days before the recording
industry drew artificial lines and slapped on race-based genre labels. Veteran Nashville
musician Chris Scruggs highlighted Carper’s versatile traditionalism when he dubbed
her “HillBillie Holiday,” declaring, “She’s as good as it gets. She has a quality that really
transcends time and fashion.”

Melissa Carper’s childhood in North Platte, Nebraska, was filled with country music. She
has fond memories of lying on the living room carpet with her head under the family
stereo console, listening to her parents’ beloved Hank Williams and Loretta Lynn
albums. From an early age, the Carper siblings sang gospel music together at churches
and retirement homes, and when the kids were old enough for instruments, their mother
organized them into a country band. Having taken up upright bass in 4th grade,
12-year-old Melissa naturally became the electric bassist. A childhood playing country
music until midnight on the circuit of Nebraska’s rural Elks, Eagles, and American
Legion halls may have been out of the ordinary, but she reflects that “my parents were
dreamers and they believed in all of us and our musical abilities.” Her high school band
director, himself a bassist, was another mentor, and with his encouragement, she
attended the University of Nebraska at Lincoln on a classical music scholarship.
Drawn more to gigging and to the jazz and blues recordings she discovered in the
university’s library, Carper left school for Eureka Springs, Arkansas. Years of honing her
craft as a busker in this cultural hub of the Ozarks deepened her devotion to country
music, as did subsequent stints in the music meccas of New Orleans, New York, and
her new hometown of Austin, Texas. Melissa Carper’s acclaimed debut solo album,
Daddy’s Country Gold (2021), is something of a greatest hits album born of those
formative years, and her subsequent recordings Ramblin’ Soul and Borned in Ya proved
the staying power of her playful and profound songwriting.

Deep connections with other artists are essential to Carper’s success--her musical
journey includes membership in beloved bands like the Camptown Ladies, Wonder
Women of Country, The Carper Family, and Sad Daddy. Musical partnerships were the
driving force behind two new 2025 releases, each highlighting not just Carper’s mastery
of the genre but her willingness to step into a musical adventure in the company of good
friends. First out of the gate are two new singles penned with her new pal Theo
Lawrence, a native of Paris (France, not Texas). Released by Warner with hints of more
music to come, “All Fifty States” and “Dat Ain’t Right” showcase two great songwriters

exchanging playful banter with catchy, vibrant melodies. Then, just in time for the
holidays, a Christmas album drops from Soundly/Thirty Tigers. Inspired by pal Ben
Kitterman, who told her his family plays Daddy’s the whole month of December each
year, Carper set to work writing. Collaborating with wordsmith Gina Gallina, a buddy
since their days busking in New Orleans, A Very Carper Christmas spins out a raft of
instant holiday classics recorded with a bevy of friends and, in honor of Melissa’s
mother, a very tasty cheeseball.

Melissa Carper is a musical traditionalist for the modern age. “Melissa’s songs all come
from the heart. She don’t blow smoke,” says musical co-conspirator Gallina. Carper’s
unassuming yet unapologetic queerness, combined with her experiences wandering
and finding a new home in diverse communities, reinforced her innate ability to channel
into her songs the beauty, struggles, and humor of everyday life—a key component of
the best kinds of country music. This deeply humanitarian impulse also drives her efforts
to build the Natural State of Being Farm, a small-home community in Arkansas (The
Natural State) designed to combat homelessness and support recovery. It also comes
through loud and clear in her riveting stage shows and her growing body of essential
country songs. "It's a tricky thing that Carper has done,” declares roots journal No
Depression. “[She’s] carefully preserving the sense of romance and immediacy of the
old classics. Yet by bringing her own experiences into the canon, she is unearthing a
history that includes so many more of us, finally allowed to speak out through memories
forgotten due to silence and taboo."

PRESENTER NOTES:
Forthcoming albums we might be able to highlight at Richmond: duet album with Theo
Lawrence with a single out in September; Christmas album of all original songs; Sad
Daddy new album coming out.

https://www.melissacarper.com/about
https://www.melissacarper.com/natural-state-of-being

Other quotes lamentably left out of the piece:
Carper’s father gave her a collection of Jimmie Rodgers recordings, which made a
defining impact. “He combined country and blues and jazz,” she recalls. “All of those
elements, and the rawness of those recordings...I can’t quite put a finger on it, but I was
obsessed.”

(https://savingcountrymusic.com/melissa-carper-announces-new-album-borned-in-ya/)
Ahead of her 2023 debut at the legendary Ryman Auditorium, the Grand Ole Opry
declared “Carper stands firmly on the shoulders of American ramblers, crooners, and
songsters -- the building blocks of her musical foundation.”
(https://www.opry.com/artists/melissa-carper)