Aisha GolliherIt takes no time at all to settle into “Lucky Five,” the spry and approachably jazzy new ditty from Arkansas-connected crooner Melissa Carper.
Splattered with muted trumpet and old-fashioned strings, the song’s all about how Carper’s first four attempts at love were just footnotes on the way to lover number five, the only one she’s ever “adored.” It’s a sweet, hindsight-savvy way of looking at heartbreak that will resonate for anyone who’s found the one and might offer a little encouragement to those who are still searching.
Carper spoke with Holler about the new tune, explaining that the “first iteration of ‘Lucky Five’ started a few years ago as ‘Number Five,’ but it felt as though the word ‘number’ was insulting. I wanted to try to save the song because I felt that it had a sweetness and good melody, and I realized if I simply changed ‘number’ to ‘lucky,’ it fixed the problem.” Here’s the music video:
Carper has been keeping busy with the Wonder Women of Country, the trio she formed with singer-songwriters Brennen Leigh and Kelly Willis, but “Lucky Five” is her first solo release since 2022’s “Ramblin’ Soul.” It’s also the first single from her forthcoming LP, “Borned In Ya,” which comes out on July 19 and is supposed to be the “the least ‘country’ of her albums” and the first to incorporate horns, per her new website bio.
Like both “Ramblin’ Soul” and “Daddy’s Country Gold,” the album was recorded at The Bomb Shelter in East Nashville and was co-produced by Dennis Crouch and Andrija Tokic. You can pre-order the album on CD or vinyl here (I’ve got my eye on the butter bean-colored variant).
