
Melissa Carper/Jaime Wyatt
Wed, 29 Jul, 8:00 PM EDT
Doors open
7:30 PM EDT
The Southgate House Revival - Sanctuary
111 E Sixth Street, Newport, KY 41071
Event Information
Age Limit
All Ages

Singer-Songwriter
Melissa Carper
Melissa Carper
Singer-Songwriter
Celebrated for her profoundly observational lyrics, her “homespun sensibility,” and a voice that
curls like a croon from a gramophone, Melissa Carper plays old school country music that
resonates across time and place. Carper’s repertoire weaves together the threads of old-time,
bluegrass, western swing, jazz, and blues that all intertwined to form American country music,
back in the days before the recording industry drew artificial lines and slapped on race-based
genre labels. Veteran Nashville musician Chris Scruggs highlighted Carper’s versatile
traditionalism when he dubbed her “HillBillie Holiday,” declaring, “She’s as good as it gets. She
has a quality that really transcends time and fashion.”
Melissa Carper’s childhood in North Platte, Nebraska, was filled with country music. She has
fond memories of lying on the living room carpet with her head under the family stereo console,
listening to her parents’ beloved Hank Williams and Loretta Lynn albums. From an early age,
the Carper siblings sang gospel music together at churches and retirement homes, and when
the kids were old enough for instruments, their mother organized them into a country band.
Having taken up upright bass in 4th grade, 12-year-old Melissa naturally became the electric
bassist. A childhood playing country music until midnight on the circuit of Nebraska’s rural Elks,
Eagles, and American Legion halls may have been out of the ordinary, but she reflects that “my
parents were dreamers and they believed in all of us and our musical abilities.” Her high school
band director, himself a bassist, was another mentor, and with his encouragement, she attended
the University of Nebraska at Lincoln on a classical music scholarship.
Drawn more to gigging and to the jazz and blues recordings she discovered in the university’s
library, Carper left school for Eureka Springs, Arkansas. Years of honing her craft as a busker in
this cultural hub of the Ozarks deepened her devotion to country music, as did subsequent
stints in the music meccas of New Orleans, New York, and her new hometown of Austin, Texas.
Melissa Carper’s acclaimed debut solo album, Daddy’s Country Gold (2021), is something of a
greatest hits album born of those formative years, and her subsequent recordings Ramblin’ Soul
and Borned in Ya proved the staying power of her playful and profound songwriting.
Deep connections with other artists are essential to Carper’s success--her musical journey
includes membership in beloved bands like the Camptown Ladies, Wonder Women of Country,
The Carper Family, and Sad Daddy. Musical partnerships were the driving force behind her
latest releases, each highlighting not just Carper’s mastery of the genre but her willingness to
step into a musical adventure in the company of good friends. Inspired by pal Ben Kitterman,
who told her his family plays Daddy’s the whole month of December each year, Carper set to
work writing a Christmas album. Collaborating with wordsmith Gina Gallina, a buddy since their
days busking in New Orleans, A Very Carper Christmas spins out a raft of instant holiday
classics recorded with a bevy of friends and, in honor of Melissa’s mother, a very tasty
cheeseball.
In February 2026, Warner released an album penned with her new pal Theo Lawrence, a native
of Paris (France, not Texas). Havin' A Talk highlights each artist's individuality while they
exchange playful banter with catchy, vibrant melodies throughout this duet album.
Melissa Carper is a musical traditionalist for the modern age. “Melissa’s songs all come from the
heart. She don’t blow smoke,” says musical co-conspirator Gallina. Carper’s unassuming yet
unapologetic queerness, combined with her experiences wandering and finding a new home in
diverse communities, reinforced her innate ability to channel into her songs the beauty,
struggles, and humor of everyday life—a key component of the best kinds of country music.
This deeply humanitarian impulse also drives her efforts to build the Natural State of Being
Farm, a small-home community in Arkansas (The Natural State) designed to combat
homelessness and support recovery. It also comes through loud and clear in her riveting stage
shows and her growing body of essential country songs. "It's a tricky thing that Carper has
done,” declares roots journal No Depression. “[She’s] carefully preserving the sense of romance
and immediacy of the old classics. Yet by bringing her own experiences into the canon, she is
unearthing a history that includes so many more of us, finally allowed to speak out through
memories forgotten due to silence and taboo."

Alternative Country
Jaime Wyatt
Jaime Wyatt
Alternative Country
Jaime Wyatt’s newest release Felony Blues, whose title is a nod to records like David Allan Coe’s Penitentiary Blue, is largely an autobiographical collection of convict love stories, prison songs, and honky-tonk laments.
Wyatt is a striking figure with an old soul and a voice like a force of nature. Regardless of genre, the Los Angeles-based Wyatt is a dynamic performer, who sails naturally between vintage ‘60s and ‘70s country/rock ’n’ soul anthems and
heartfelt country ballads of love and corruption. Country radio station 95.3 The Bear recently named her, alongside Sturgill Simpson and Margo Price, as “one of the country artists you may not have heard of, but need to hear.”