Culture
Melissa Carper chats Christmas album & tour, cheeseball awe, record distribution and Americana scene
By: Ian Saint
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CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOUB) — When Melissa Carper sings Dumpster Divin’ on Christmas Eve, her ode to holiday frugality is heartfelt. Speaking to WOUB before crossing into Canada, she pauses our interview to stow her produce at their American hotel for retrieving when they’re back stateside: “We don’t want to lose the beautiful apples, bananas, oranges…. We can’t waste our vegetables.”
The oldtime crooner and upright bassist recently released her first Christmas album, A Very Carper Christmas, comprising mostly original songs. New York Times selected it as one of “11 New Holiday Albums That Will Make You Gasp, Laugh and Sway.”
Carper supports JD McPherson’s annual “Socks: A Rock ‘N’ Roll Christmas Tour,” which plays the Beachland Ballroom (15711 Waterloo Rd.) tomorrow.
A transcript of her conversation with WOUB’s Ian Saint, edited for length and clarity, follows.
IAN SAINT: What prompted a Christmas album?
MELISSA CARPER: A manager friend said his family put on (Carper’s 2021 album) Daddy’s Country Gold every holiday season, and he thought my style would lend itself to a Christmas album. Once he put the idea in my head, it turned into a challenge to see if I could write original Christmas songs.
He had a good point. Your singing voice makes me picture sitting at the living room radio in the ’40s. What was the journey to finding your niche voice?
CARPER: When I was little, my parents listened to lots of old country music and we had a family country band. I started getting into old jazz standards — all the beautiful songs and great singers — then into old blues. All the listening I did as a young person shaped the way I’d write songs.
My favorite song of yours is Makin’ Memories, which aired in a Star Trek episode. I reckon you never would’ve imagined that placement when you wrote it.
CARPER: Yeah, it’s wild. I still can’t believe that’s on Strange New Worlds. It’s exciting.
How would you compare writing Christmas songs to typical songwriting?
CARPER: It’s very similar. I did mostly co-writes; that was helpful. I wrote a bunch with my friend Gina Gallina; we’ve known each other since our early 20s. It was a really successful two-day session; we started eight Christmas songs, then finished them within the next month or two. I didn’t know it’d be such a similar process; you have the idea of the song, then you let the song come in. It was super fun to write about memories from old Christmases. I Want a Dog for Christmas, I co-wrote with Brennen Leigh; when she was a kid, she always wanted a dog for Christmas. Cats in the Christmas Tree was Gina’s idea, how they get in and topple the tree.
Do you truly enthuse about cheeseballs, like in Oh Cheeseball? You liken the cheeseball’s platter placement to laying baby Jesus in the manger.
CARPER: I do love cheese, I can’t lie. My mom would always have cheeseballs; also, Gina said I’d always be the one to bring the cheeseball to the party. I love that. It’s turned out to be the big hit of the album. It’s funny how people react to it live.
I can’t recall one single song about cheeseballs. That includes Weird Al, who has tons of songs about food.
CARPER: Wow, he left that for me. Amazing.
I love the variety of styles, like Christmas in New Orleans’ accordion. Dumpster Divin’ on Christmas Eve’s percussion reminds me of Tarzan’s gorillas Trashin’ the Camp. I feel Christmas albums often have a particular sound, but yours is surprisingly diverse.
CARPER: Thank you. I know what you mean. Christmas albums (often) have the same style; but Christmas music in general, you’ll hear done in every genre. I cross genres in my writing all the time. My albums will have country; some (songs) sound jazzy, R&B, soul, a little Cajun-y. When I start writing a song, I don’t try to make it any style. I just see what the song wants to be and it turns out how it turns out, which is always fun.
What led to selecting your two cover songs?
CARPER: Dennis Crouch, who produced the album and played bass, thought I’d sing All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth well. We based ours off the great Nat King Cole version, but country-fied. Please Come Home For Christmas, I listened to that on the radio last Christmas and thought it’d be fun. I listened to the original version by Charles Brown, and tried more of an old blues version than the Eagles’ version.
I noticed you left out the piano’s quarter notes. I was struck by how that made it more like a melancholic waltz.
CARPER: Yeah, it’s still in 6/8, but we’re not pounding out all those beats — just letting it flow more. I think it can be a little more sad that way.
Tell us about Havin’ a Talk, your duet album with Theo Lawrence due February 6 on Warner Records.
CARPER: That came from us trying to have fun writing duet songs together. We ended up writing lots more than intended. “Why don’t we just make a whole album?” We did a quick live recording of 12 songs in August (2024) and were going to put it out early this year. Then Theo’s management talked with Warner, and Warner wanted to put it out, so that’s exciting. We’ve already released four singles.
You’ve self-released albums, had albums distributed by Thirty Tigers, and now have a major record company releasing an album. What’s your perspective on releasing music?
CARPER: I’ve been lucky to have great distributors. Being independent is always nice, because you still own your masters. You have full control and make your own decisions. I’ve been with Thirty Tigers with the last couple albums, and they’ve merged with Soundly; they’re helping me distribute the Christmas album, and it’s doing really good. Then I’m very excited to see how an album will do on a major label.
I first saw you perform at Americanafest. What does “Americana music” mean to you? Has the emergence of a more defined “Americana” scene this millennium benefited you?
CARPER: It’s interesting — lots of genres get lumped together now under “Americana.” It’s nice to have the community for sure; things like Americanafest, people getting together that play roots music and stuff that’s not necessarily mainstream. My roots’ strongest influence is country music, but older style. It seems that style is now kept out of mainstream country, and we can no longer use that label, which is funny — but I still like to call my music “country.” Country used to encompass lots of different styles as well; country blues, old time, bluegrass.
How is this Christmas tour going?
CARPER: JD and his band are incredible. I feel really lucky to be on this tour, so excited to already expose my Christmas album to so many new people in its first year out.
For Melissa Carper tour dates and tickets, visit https://www.melissacarper.com/upcoming-shows.