Candi Carpenter

A country singer and songwriter with a strong voice and a level of experience that belies her age, Candi Carpenter was born in Toledo, Ohio and grew up in Lansing, Michigan. Carpenter grew up in a musical family, and she began taking music lessons at the age of six, learning to play saxophone and piano. Carpenter played in bands and sang in choirs both at church and in school, performed in her family’s band, and developed a keen talent at a young age. When Carpenter was in sixth grade, she bluffed her way on-stage at a Vince Gill concert to yodel for the country star; by the time she was 11, she’d been discovered by a record producer, who signed her to a contract. At 15, Carpenter left school and relocated to Nashville, Tennessee, where she was playing local honky tonks despite being underage. Veteran country artist Jack Greene heard Carpenter and hired her as part of his band, where she became his duet partner. She toured regularly with Greene, including several appearances at the Grand Ol’ Opry. However, Carpenter grew frustrated with the terms of her production and management deals, which gave her little say over her creative future. Determined to assert her creative independence, Carpenter cut ties with her managers, wriggled out of a bad marriage, and began working multiple day jobs to finance work on recordings that would allow her to follow her heart as a musician and songwriter. In 2014, Carpenter landed a deal with CTK Management, and a recording contract with Sony Music soon followed. In November 2016, Carpenter released her first single for Sony, a bitter tale of a woman betrayed called “Burn the Bed.” ~ Mark Deming