A touch of retro, a pinch of swing jazz and a fantastic storytelling to lift the mood. This is Melissa Carper with ‘Makin’ Memories’. Enjoy below!
Describe your sound in three words!
Vintage sounding country
Tell us a few things about your creative process and your new solo work.
My creative process for writing a song is generally waiting until I feel inspired by an idea and then it takes off from there. My new solo work includes old songs and new songs, a sort of compilation of what I consider some of my better work and a mixture of Country and Western Swing, some bordering on jazz. It was a dream to put these songs together on an album with an incredible band.
Your new song “Makin’ Memories” is a happy song. Are you optimistic as a person in general?
I would say I try to be a positive person. I think it takes a daily effort, at least for me it does. I do enjoy writing songs that have a sense of humour. Even with a song that has a sad theme sometimes I like to mix in humour, which I think is a way of coping with and transcending the sadness.
If your song was to be heard in an episode of a series, which would this series be?
I don’t really watch TV anymore. I watch movies sometimes. How about the Andy Griffith show?
You have mentioned that you love Frank Sinatra. If you have to choose one of his songs, which one would it be?
That’s a tough one. Sinatra sang so many great songs. I love the way he sings ballads. I would probably choose something off of ‘Sinatra Reprise: The Very Good Years’ because that was my first tape of Sinatra and I listened over and over. I’d choose “The Way You Look Tonight” off of that album, and then for a lesser known song I’d choose ‘The Things We Did Last Summer,” which I had on a CD, an album called ‘Sinatra Rarities.’ Sorry I had to choose two.
What would be your dream performance venue?
Probably the Ryman. With all of its country music history, playing there would be a real honour. Maybe my dream performance venue is outside on a farm or in a beautiful barn, that way I wouldn’t be so nervous. I am going to be having an album release party on a farm down in Texas and I’m looking forward to that.
If you could change anything about the music industry, what would it be?
I guess it’s a little concerning that selling actual physical copies of an album is becoming more difficult with streaming and digital sales taking over. I’d like to see things go backwards in time with that. I made Vinyl for the first time with this album. I have heard people buy Vinyl now more than CDs. I’d like it if cars and computers were still being made with CD players. And for that matter, tape decks too, why not. I love tapes.
One last thing we should know about you?
I live on an organic veggie farm near Bastrop, Texas outside of Austin. I love nature and just being quiet and sitting under trees and listening to birds. That’s where I am finding my peace these days. It’s great doing the farm work too. Love getting my hands dirty and getting lots of sunshine.
Thanks Melissa!
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