Melissa Carper (USA)

Melissa Carper

Carper, born into a music-loving family, was raised on roots music, immersing herself in a family record collection that featured Hank Williams Sr., Loretta Lynn, Patsy Cline, Ray Charles, Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, and more. The public school music curriculum in her home state of Nebraska gave Carper an opportunity to learn upright bass. Along the way, 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.” Carper earned a music scholarship to attend the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. College didn’t quite take, but while there, she spent hours in the music library, drawn to jazz vocalists like Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra, and she discovered seminal blues artist Lead Belly.

You’ll hear all of these influences in the music Carper has made over the years as a member of numerous touring acts and as a solo performer. Classic country and Western Swing sounds come to the fore on Daddy’s Country Gold, Carper’s 2021 album. Country roots and old-time jazz are at the heart of ‘Ramblin’ Soul’ too, but the album also ventures confidently into R & B and Soul territory. Those albums helped Carper establish a growing fan base and earn accolades from music reviewers.

Perhaps the most meaningful praise for Carper’s music has come from the world-class musicians she’s worked with onstage and in the studio. One is multi-instrumentalist Chris Scruggs. He’s a veteran of Nashville’s studio world, has played with influential roots-country-rockers BR-549, and currently tours as a member of Marty Stuart and the Fabulous Superlatives. Scruggs has been proud to contribute to Carper’s albums, including her recent ‘Borned In Ya’ sessions. “She’s as good as it gets,” he said, “She has a quality that really transcends time and fashion.” It was Scruggs who dubbed Carper “Hillbillie Holiday” – an admiring nod to her marriage of country and jazz vocal styles. “ I stand by that,” he said. “She can sing Hank Williams and then handle these old pop tunes, and the great thing is how natural she is – she doesn’t even really change her delivery.”

‘Carper’s enigmatic voice sounds familiar and alien all at once, making Ramblin’ Soul a truly original set of songs.’ — Rolling Stone

‘She’s as good as it gets. She has a quality that really transcends time and fashion.’ — Chris Scruggs

‘Ramblin’ Soul replicates the effortless cool from Daddy’s Country Gold. Carper’s relentless creativity spins our grandparents’ music into something immediate and familiar.’ — No Depression

support bonnie montgomery

Bonnie Montgomery has always had a big voice. Raised on southern gospel, Texas swing, Delta blues, and Ozark bluegrass, she trained as an opera singer before launching her award-winning career in outlaw country. Paste Magazine praises her "timeless songwriting. Dale Watson calls her "a sophisticated badass who was born to sing." Even so, she's never sung quite as compellingly as she does on her new album, the eclectic, electrifying River.

From arena shows opening for indie-rock band The Gossip to dancehall dates with Ray Wylie Hubbard and Billy Jo Shaver, she sharpened her music onstage, carving out a blend of parlor songs, contemporary roots music, and timeless country twang. She stayed busy offstage, too. Billy Blythe, her original opera about Bill Clinton's childhood in Arkansas, received praise from The New Yorker and The Economist in 2016, while albums like 2018's Forever found her bridging the gap between modern-day Americana and old-school country western music. The hard work paid off. A perennial winner at the annual Arkansas Country Music Awards, Montgomery was named ‘Entertainer of the Year’ in 2020, ‘Americana/Roots Artist of the Year’ in 2019, and both ‘Best Americana Artist’ and ‘Best Female Vocalist’ in 2018. She also won big at the Ameripolitan Awards, being crowned Outlaw Female’ in 2016.

‘Arkansas country songstresss Bonnie Montgomery is dazzling as all get-out... Piecing together bluegrass, gospel, pop-country and soul, River is the kind of record that ought to soundtrack the entire world over, not just the corner of the South it first came to life in.’ -Paste Magazine, on new album, River

‘...stunningly authentic, honest-to-goodness songwriting reminiscent of the old country greats.’ - Pop Matters