Melissa Carper & Theo Lawrence // Album Release Show
Melissa Carper and Theo Lawrence barely knew each other when they started singing songs together in the fall of 2023. Little introduction was needed to get down to action (get down to business or get into the action) because what these two were supposed (intended or meant?) to do together went without saying : songs needed to be written, harmonies had to be sung and an album must be made.
In the last several years Carper and Lawrence have individually earned their spots as acclaimed recording artists on the Roots Music scene, seamlessly blending old-time Country, Jazz and Soul on their records. A country woman from Arkansas and a city man from Paris with two very different paths and voices, they were brought together by their love and devotion to traditional American music.
They regularly gathered in the kitchen for long afternoon hangs in Austin, Texas where they both now live, and had an album worth of songs right in time for Spring. They hit the road together in June 2024, putting their newly-composed classic love songs to the test, in front of attentive crowds in listening rooms throughout Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and California. Riding on endless desert roads, they took time to get acquainted, humming songs to the sound of the Ford Transit radio, simply « Havin’ A Talk ».
These two take the Art of cutting records rather seriously, so they took their business to the Athens of the South, in Nashville, Tennessee. It’s there at the Bomb Shelter studio, that Melissa crafted her last few albums, with the help of Andrija Tokic’s capable hands.
A few phone calls and good taste in musicians brought a few talented friends and some of the best session players to the room, to form Melissa and Theo’s A-team of their dreams. Chris Scruggs, who they brought in for rhythm guitar and steel, casually stepped up in the co-producer’s shoes, alongside Theo and Melissa.
The result is a debut duet-album like they just don’t make ‘em anymore…
Two remarkable and unique voices that have bewildered many who came to hear them in all kinds of rooms for about a decade, heard together for the first time, blending like glass in a timeless glint of blushing shadows
https://www.theolawrence.net/
