Carper finds herself "Somewhere Between Texas and Tennessee"

Carper frequently finds herself somewhere between Texas and Tennessee, regularly traveling between her home in Austin to Nashville, as does her friend and collaborator, Brennen Leigh, a member of Wonder Women of Texas along with Kelly Willis. On one such trip, the pair realized they were both on Highway 30 going in opposite directions, destined to pass each other. They figured out which mile marker between them would work, pulled over for a truck stop coffee or two, and wrote an Ernest Tubb-esque song about it.

"Brennen suggested we put this idea in the song," Carper said. "And, the idea that you see someone's poster up while you are playing a town but you know you will miss them because you will be moving on to the next town."

"Somewhere Between Texas and Tennessee" follows the release of the title track and its video, and single and video "Lucky Five," a lighthearted track about past relationships.

After recording her 2022 album, "Ramblin' Soul," Carper was taking a break, staying in a friend's camping trailer in the country. Inside the trailer, she found a collection of DVDs and VHS tapes, one of which was Down From The Mountain, the documentary concert film about the O, Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack. The film featured an interview with roots music icon Ralph Stanley.

"I don't think you can get this sound unless it's borned in ya," said Stanley, when asked about what he called "old-time mountain music." When Carper heard those words, something jumped inside her. She immediately jotted down "borned in ya" on a piece of paper. "I knew I had to write that song," she said.

She recorded the album in spring 2023 in East Nashville's Bomb Shelter – the same "analog wonderland" where she'd recorded "Ramblin' Soul" and its predecessor, "Daddy's Country Gold," and enlisted the help of her trusted co-producers – Dennis Crouch and Andrija Tokic.