![]() Candi Carpenter's musical roots are buried deep in memories of stained glass windows and dog eared hymnals, as she toured the Midwest with her family’s gospel band. At age 11, she crashed a Vince Gill concert and later that year, she signed her first production deal in Nashville. She traded high school for a room at The Shoney’s Inn and the classroom for the stages of Music City's honky-tonks. Recently, the singer-songwriter-performer graciously took the time to chat about her roots, learning from her heroes, her latest tune, "Cry Baby", and more. Your involvement with music began at a very young age when you began singing in your family’s gospel band. I was constantly surrounded by music growing up and when I was nine years old, I joined the family gospel band, Heaven Sent. We were like the Partridge family of Southern gospel music. I knew I wanted to be in music more than anything in the world, but I had no idea to get started. I entered every single talent contest in the Midwest that I could and then I decided I was going to crash a concert (laughing). I went to see Vince Gill in concert and on the back of my ticket stub, I wrote ‘Can I yodel for you?’ I took it to the stage and kept waving it, and eventually, he brought me on stage to perform for about 20,000 people. I sang “Cowboy's Sweetheart” in my orange fleece pullover and high-water bell bottoms (laughing). I looked ridiculous, but I was sure in that moment that I was going to do this for the rest of my life. What an incredible experience. Growing up performing Gospel, what made you gravitate to Nashville and country music? In my opinion, my Grandpa was one of greatest steel guitar players ever. He never moved to Nashville, but he played with various country artists when they came into town. He was a big country music fan, and the first person to introduce me to the genre. At fifteen you moved from Michigan to Nashville. What was that transition like? Eventually, my parents and I met someone who wanted to be my manager and my mom and dad allowed me to move to Nashville with her. We lived in a hotel on Lower Broadway and I would go out and play every bar and honky-tonk until 3 am. After playing one night, I met Jack Greene who invited me to play some shows with him and took me under his wing as his duet partner. Because of him, I basically grew up backstage at the Grand Ole Opry and got to work with my heroes, like Jack, Jean Shepherd, and Porter Wagoner, who were kind, generous, and wonderful. I co-wrote with Phil Everly who became like an uncle to me, and Jean helped me overcome stage fright and encouraged me to love the audience - and to this day I have the utmost respect for the audience. I'm always thankful they took the time to share their evening with me. And Jack, who is the kindest, sweetest human, stressed the importance of songs as shared experiences and bringing people together through music, which is very important to me as well. I definitely tried to soak up everything I could learn and all they could teach me. Your current release, for which you recently debuted a video, is called “Cry Baby.” Can you share the story behind that song?
I wrote that one with Emma Grandillo and Frank Romano. We wanted to create a song that was a throwback, with a bit of a modern twist, to those great artists who taught me so much. Normally, I spend time revising lyrics, but “Cry Baby” was born in about three hours. I am so grateful and humbled and can’t really believe that people want to listen to the noises I’m making (laughing). It’s a dream come true. They’re certainly more than noises, your voice is immensely powerful. In addition to your solo work, you’re a part of the Song Suffragettes. How did that come about? A little over a year ago I performed at my first Song Suffragettes show with Kalie Shorr and Lena Stone. They immediately became two of my best friends. I went from being an only child to someone with a ton of sisters. They not only share clothes and make-up tips, but they also understand where I am at and what I’m going through. Song Suffragettes is a wonderful community of female artists who encourage and support one another no matter what, and that’s an amazing gift. YouTube
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