From their backgrounds, Melissa Carper and Theo Lawrence make an unexpected pair. Carper spent formative years between the Great Plains and the Ozarks, wielding her double bass, while singing lead in a variety of musical outfits. Lawrence, a young, French-Canadian singer-songwriter, moved across the Atlantic Ocean to be closer to the old-time sounds he most admires and in search of success. Still, these two fiercely independent and deeply authentic artists share a love of classic country music.
Having heard of each other’s music and journeys, Carper and Lawrence finally met a couple years ago at Sagebrush, an Austin, Texas bar and live music hotspot. The connection was instantaneous, and they agreed to collaborate on something, sometime. They began writing together, often at Carper’s kitchen table, and conjured the idea of a timeless, yet thoroughly modern duets album.
Although they’re both now based in Austin, the duo decamped to Nashville to record at the Bomb Shelter with Andrija Tokic (Alabama Shakes, Langhorne Slim, Margo Price), where everything was captured live — the way it was done in the days of Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton, George Jones and Tammy Wynette, and Loretta Lynn and Conway Twitty. The result is a collection of witty, sometimes sarcastic, and endlessly catchy country songs.
In a rare joint interview, Carper and Lawrence got on Zoom together to discuss their new LP, HAVIN’ A TALK. Like other pieces in No Depression’s In The Deep End series, questions start easier then get progressively…deeper. Responses have been edited for length and clarity.
