(Brooklyn Basement) Austin-based singer-songcrafter/upright bassist Melissa Carper has released her new LP, A Very Carper Christmas, via Soundly Music. On December 4, she will join JD McPherson’s upcoming “Socks: A Rock & Roll Christmas” tour, a 15-date run that kicks off in Louisville, Kentucky, with stops planned in Nashville, New York City, Chicago, and more.
A Very Carper Christmas is a fresh collection of future classic holiday songs brimming with equal parts nostalgia, sly humor, and goodwill for all. Carper credits the spark for a Christmas album to her friend Ben Kitterman, who challenged her to pen an album of original holiday compositions. What first felt daunting soon became a passion project. Carper reached out to her long-time friend and old Camptown Ladies bandmate, Gina Gallina, to see if she would be interested in co-writing the album. Barely an hour later, she received an email from Gallina with five witty ideas sketched out. Immediately inspired, Carper began adding melodies and chords to Gallina’s lyrics. It was on.
In a weekend of creative alchemy at an Airbnb in Arkansas in the Spring of 2024, they crafted a song cycle that captures all the heartfelt, heartbreaking, and joyous notes of the holiday as many of us experience it today. As Gallina reflects, “Melissa’s songs all come from the heart. She don’t blow smoke.”…