Austin-based singer-songwriter and upright bassist Melissa Carper has revealed her forthcoming LP: "Borned In Ya," out July 19 through Mae Music/Thirty Tigers, leading the announcement with the release of her first single off the record: "Lucky Five."
The new song, accompanied by an endearing music video shot by Brian Schwarz of Painted House Productions in the famed state chill spot: Austin Roller Rink, is a lighthearted track about past relationships underscored by old-timey and jazzy soundscapes.
Americana-focused digital platform Holler, which premiered the "Lucky Five," said that "Melissa Carper is rolling hot as she steps up to the table with the first taste of her forthcoming album," calling it one of its "most keenly anticipated albums of 2024."
About Melissa Carper's 'Lucky Five' Off 'Borned In Ya'
Of the new single, Carper shared: "I have much personal experience to draw from in writing a song that speaks of learning from past relationships, growing as a human, and being able to know how to love better as you grow."
"I believe that any difficult experience that presents itself is just an opportunity to learn and face something in ourselves that needs to be confronted, in order to learn," she continued.
Sonically, the track is a masterful blend of Carper's long-standing influences like country, jazz, blues, soul, and R&B, all held intact by her impeccable sense of adventure and artistic growth. Such sensibilities also pervade her upcoming "Borned In Ya" record.
As per Carper, the LP's catalyst was the words of bluegrass legend Ralph Stanley that she first heard on an old DVD copy of "Down From the Mountain," a documentary and concert film about the "O, Brother Where Art Thou'' soundtrack's creation.
When asked about what he called "old-time mountain music" in the film, Stanley said: "I don't think you can get this sound unless it's borned in ya."
The latter part of this particular statement, "borned in ya," burned inside the mind of Carper and compelled her "to write that song," prompting her to jot the words down on a piece of paper.
By the spring of 2023, Carper returned to East Nashville's Bomb Shelter Rehearsal and Recording Studios, the same "analog wonderland" where she recorded her previous albums "Ramblin' Soul" and "Daddy's Country Gold, to work on her epiphanic song.
Enlisting the help of her trusted co-producers Dennis Crouch and Andrija Tojic, "Borned In Ya" eventually came to be and was mounted as the title track of Carper's upcoming record.
"The song evolved as I was writing it to be more about having your soul 'borned it ya,'" she explained, "and the more life experience you have, you hopefully grow to embody the highest version of yourself that you can be."
"Borned In Ya" is now available for pre-save and pre-order by clicking here.
The first advanced single off the LP, "Lucky Five," can also now be streamed on all major platforms by clicking here, with its official music video available right below.
