From the Writing Room to Center Stage: Mackenzie Carpenter is Turning Nashville Into Her Playground

Photo by Harper Smith.

Spunky 25-year-old singer-songwriter Mackenzie Carpenter isn’t new to the country music scene. In fact, she’s one of the crafty songwriters behind some of Megan Moroney’s biggest hits, including “Hair Salon,” “I’m Not Pretty,” and “Indifferent.” She also just so happens to be dually blessed with a voice that drips with Southern charm and, earlier today, she released her long-awaited debut album, “Hey Country Queen.”

The thirteen-track project, which features the Texas-inspired “Don’t Mess With Exes,” the Miranda Lambert-esque “Gone Fishing,” and the 808-standout “Cowgirl Like Me,” showcases Carpenter at her best – clever, lighthearted, and unapologetically herself.

The “Hey Country Queen” album cover. Courtesy of The Valory Music Co.

The record is a collection of songs that have been years in the making. The album’s “Dozen Red Flags,” for example, was born after a meme depicting a man on one knee holding a bouquet of red flags took the Internet by storm in 2019, and the final track of the album, “Country Queen,” for which the album is named, is a nod to all of the female country music icons, including Miranda Lambert, Dolly Parton, and Shania Twain, who have gone before Carpenter and serve as a constant source of inspiration – even in Carpenter’s dreams.

“I know I probably sound like a crazy person because Dolly Parton doesn’t know that I exist, but she came to me in a dream, and she gave me this song idea,” Carpenter shares of the album’s “Red Wine Blue,” which is the song title that Parton proposed. “In my dream, we were singing it together, and I just remember waking up in the middle of the night and writing it down in my notes,” Carpenter reflects. “The next morning, I immediately went downstairs and I started writing the idea on my great-grandmother’s old piano. I think that, sonically and lyrically, it’s something that Dolly will be proud of if she ever hears it.”

“I stood there crying, yeah/Gravel was flying/Now all I can see is your goodbye green eyes and I’m/Red wine blue sitting here sipping on this missing you,” Carpenter sings on “Red Wine Blue.”

Although the song is a heartbreak anthem, Carpenter herself is happily married. She even penned the perfect wedding song, the record’s third track, “Only Girl,” on which she sings of what true love feels like to her.

“My brother Micah actually introduced me and my now husband by telling my husband that he didn’t have a chance with me,” Carpenter says with an audible smile. “And I think he took that as a challenge accepted because now, years later, we are literally married,” she says.

“I think “Only Girl” really covers things that I’ve learned about love and the way that my husband makes me feel. That song was written for him right around our wedding, and it’s been fun to see people connecting to it,” Carpenter shares. “He really makes me feel like the only girl in the world, so I’m thankful that we wrote a song that could express that.”

“Every heartbreak, every prayer I prayed/God must’ve paid attention/‘Cause he looks at me like the only star in his sky/He holds me tight like he’ll never say goodbye/And I know there’s millions and billions of people living in this world/But he loves me, like I’m the only girl,” Carpenter sings on “Only Girl.”

Carpenter and her husband, Cole Neuber. Photo via Mackenzie Carpenter.

Carpenter, who grew up a preacher’s daughter in a small town outside of Athens, Georgia, now regularly writes and performs with one of her two older brothers, Micah – the one who, according to Carpenter, “got tricked into having to write songs about his good friend who is now my husband.”

The pair, who didn’t get along well growing up because they were so similar, eventually bonded over music and came to revere each other for their respective talents.

“We collaborate well together in the writer’s room because we kinda have that sibling banter where we can just say, ‘Hey, that’s not it,’ or ‘That’s not good,’ or ‘We need to keep looking,’ or ‘What are you thinking?’ and nobody gets offended because we know that we just want the best for each other, so he’s a great collaborator and piece of the Mackenzie Carpenter band and equation,” Carpenter shares.

The sibling duo also accounts for one-half of the iconic songwriting group better known as “Jimmy James.” Megan Moroney and Ben Williams comprise the other half. The group formed after the four were thrown into a songwriting session together and immediately hit it off.

“All I remember is having that moment that was like, ‘Wait, did we just become best friends?’” Carpenter shares of the group’s initial session. “We had so much fun. We were just laughing and joking and like immediately, we could all just be our truest selves together. And then on top of that, the songs that we were writing became successful. Obviously, in that moment, we didn’t know that – we were just like, ‘We love each other, we’re having so much fun. Maybe this is good.’ And then it started to react with Megan’s fans, and so we were like, ‘Oh, we’re kinda good at this? Like that’s amazing because this is so much fun,’” Carpenter shares.

The prolific Jimmy James crew has written a number of hits, including Moroney’s “Hair Salon,” “I’m Not Pretty,” “Mustang or Me,” “Nothin’ Crazy,” “28th of June,” “Indifferent,” and “The Girls.”

The “Jimmy James” crew. From left to right: Micah Carpenter, Mackenzie Carpenter, Megan Moroney, and Ben Williams. Photo via Mackenzie Carpenter.

Although the group has been working together since the early days of Moroney’s career, they didn’t put a name on it until they penned “Nothin’ Crazy.”

“The song says, ‘Spendin’ time naming our dogs and babies,’ and if you listen to the end, it says, ‘I was thinkin’ Ella Grace and Jimmy James,’ so we literally only refer to each other as ‘Jimmy’ or ‘the Jimmies’ or ‘Jimmy James’ or some version of that name,” Carpenter explains. “It’s like a little bit worrying,” she says, laughing. “Maybe we’re crazy, but it’s been a lot of fun to just like find that crew that clicks so well and is having great success together while having so much fun.”

This spring, Carpenter will be joining Moroney on the Georgia and Alabama legs of Moroney’s “Am I Okay?” Tour. “The icing on the cake is getting to see in person the songs that we’ve written together, the way that they have resonated with her fans, and just hearing them screaming those songs and knowing we were a part of that and having the visual in my mind of when we wrote it in the living room and then seeing it on the stage – it’s just a really, really cool process,” Carpenter shares of touring with Moroney.

Like a true preacher’s daughter, Carpenter credits God for all of her success. “My faith is a big part of my life, and I don’t think I would be where I am without the Lord,” she shares. “He is the ultimate Creator, and I always ask Him for creativity when I’m writing songs and doing anything that I’m doing. He just guides my steps and opens the doors.”

With her unwavering faith, voice steeped in Southern charm, and a songwriting style that stands out as both refreshingly unique and deeply relatable, Carpenter is carving out a path all her own in today’s country music landscape. As she continues to step into her own spotlight, there’s no doubt the doors will keep opening – only now, she’s walking through them as a country queen in her own right.