INTERVIEW: Melissa Carper Crafts a Home For Us All

Melissa Carper's been everywhere, as the old country song goes. On her upcoming album A Very Carper Christmas, Carper sets her sights on home – and how we all find ways to create them, no matter whom we spend the holidays with. In our interview, we discuss how the album came together, Carper's own Christmas reflections, and how words of encouragement from fellow artists can lead to a spark. The album will be out on November 28, and Carper will join J.D. McPherson on his famed Socks: A Rock'n'Roll Christmas tour.

A lot of your recent work has focused on the idea of finding and creating home. How do these themes come up in A Very Carper Christmas?

This is a great question. A lot of the songs on the album are written from a perspective of old memories of Christmas with my family, having a stable home in North Platte, Nebraska from age 5-17 years old. I was lucky to have a stable and loving home growing up.

Then there is the song "Christmas in New Orleans," based on the first Christmas I didn't go back to North Platte. And then there are some songs based on Christmases where I didn't have a place to go and celebrate Christmas, times that I didn't feel like I had a strong family or home to go to for the holidays.

I think the holidays can be particularly hard for this reason. When you don't have somewhere to go, or have a family or friends to celebrate with, it can feel like the worst time of year. I've spent a lot of Christmases alone, or recently I have gone to see my brother, who has been homeless and has schizophrenia, on Christmas. I have picked him up from a homeless shelter and taken him to the Waffle House, the only place open.

Your music is already so warm and cozy. How do you feel that vibe informed this album?

Thank you! I love that you feel like my music is warm and cozy! The holidays should be warm and cozy. I love all the old traditional Christmas music that makes you feel that way. A lot of the stuff I like to listen to at Christmas is from the 1930's-1950's – the classic beautiful recordings we all know. I think I'm not really doing anything very different on this album than I have been doing, except changing the subject to the holidays. Perhaps just going back to a time period that feels slower and more sane and less digital and AI feels cozy!

How did you find the balance between the traditions that everyone loves, and making your own mark on holiday music?

Well I need to give a big shout out to Gina Gallina, my friend since I was 23 years old in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, and co-writer on most of these songs. She came in with the ideas for most of the songs. We got together at an Airbnb in Arkansas to start these songs in April of 2024. I am lucky to have some good Christmas memories and I was able to infuse the album with that, with Gina's help. Gina also insisted on representing those that are alone on the holidays in our songs.

Gina has a creative spark, she is ahead of her time and is able to see things in a very unique and humorous way. Let's just say she is the creative genius behind most of the album. She is a magical being and I like to call her Godmother of all the fairies. I instinctively knew that I could not write this album without her.

The holidays can be a loaded time for LGBTQIA+ folks, especially right now. Do you feel that influenced the album in any way?

I'm sure it influenced the album in a way I don't even realize. There have been times that I felt like I wasn't comfortable taking my girlfriend home to Christmas and times when I didn't feel comfortable going to my girlfriend's family's home for Christmas – and even opted to stay home alone because I didn't feel comfortable. It's too bad that it's still an issue anywhere.

JD McPherson's Christmas tour is becoming something of an institution. What are you most excited about?

I am most excited about the fact that JD invited me in on this incredible tour as his support. I'm a huge fan. His original Christmas songs and great Christmas record were an inspiration for me in trying to write some Christmas songs. He has been having me regularly for his Tulsi-Town Two-Step in Tulsa, Oklahoma every Saturday after Thanksgiving. I remember talking to him a couple years ago at the Tulsi-Town show about the idea of making my own Christmas album, and he told me, 'You should do it!' He told me it was really fun to write Christmas songs. And here we are this year touring together with our Christmas albums. It's a beautiful thing and we are going to have so much fun!

You can pre-save or pre-order A Very Carper Christmas here.

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