Today we’d like to introduce you to Candi Carpenter
Hi Candi, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
When I was a kid, my family’s gospel band opened for a self-proclaimed exorcist at a church in rural Ohio. I can’t remember the preacher’s name, but I’ll never forget how badly he screwed me up. During his sermon, he claimed that “all mental illness was the result of demonic possession.” I was already struggling with my mental health, and now, on top of everything, I was also pretty sure I was possessed by demons. You know, normal growing pains.
I researched DIY at-home exorcisms and found a website on GeoCities that said I needed to be anointed with oil. Of course, I didn’t feel comfortable telling anyone about my problem, so I blessed my mom’s canola oil and poured it all over myself after my parents went to sleep. I had the worst acne breakout of my life.
I was born in Toledo, Ohio, and raised in Lansing, Michigan. My father was a Christian Missionary Alliance pastor, and my family toured the Midwest singing at churches and county fairs. Our band was originally called Heaven Sent, but we changed the name to The Carpenter’s after I joined. I was around nine or ten when I became an official member. They added the apostrophe “s” to our last name because, as my dad said, “we belonged to Jesus.” People used to get pretty mad when they downloaded our music and discovered we weren’t Richard and Karen.
I signed with my first Nashville producer when I was still in middle school. By age 15, I had dropped out and moved into a hotel room near Music Row. Almost every night I was singing in the bars on Lower Broadway until closing time. My family met someone who wanted to be my manager, and the situation turned abusive rather quickly.
By the time I turned 16, I was touring with country music legend Jack Greene and spending my weekends backstage at the Grand Ole Opry. I feel like I grew up there. I call it my high school.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
My family met my childhood manager in a bar. What was an evangelical pre-teen doing in a Nashville dive bar with clergy parents after midnight? Great question. My therapist has encouraged me to stop trying to figure it out.
It went exactly as well as you’re probably imagining. I ran away from the woman who “managed me” when I was 20, but continued to hop from one bad situation to the next. It was chaos, but my delusions of grandeur kept me alive.
During the pandemic, I realized that I wasn’t just unhappy; I had no idea who I was. My identity had always been decided for me by whichever manager or record label I was working with at the time, and whatever church or cult I wound up in. I decided that I would either quit music or use it as a way to meet myself for the first time. I wrote my debut album, Demonology, as a way to finally exorcise all of those personal demons. I fully left the church, came out as queer and non-binary, and realized I felt more at home musically in the pop/rock/alternative spaces.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I was diagnosed with Autism in 2022. I’m considered AuDHD because I also have ADHD, as well as Scrupulosity; a form of obsessive-compulsive disorder characterized by religious or moral obsessions which made deconstructing from evangelical Christianity a life-long challenge. I’m working to use my platform as a musician to advocate and build community for neurodivergent and disabled folks, as well as individuals looking for religious trauma/recovery support.
Now that I’ve learned to unmask, I can’t believe I spent most of my life suffocating inside of one.
How can people work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
Visit me at www.CandiCarpenter.com to listen to my music or find me on social media. I’m also on Discord and Patreon.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.candicarpenter.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/candicarpenter/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@CandiCarpenter
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1puU6o4S6FqGkdcPoImWVr?si=S3Sy_9rRTW26eYaDla3Daw
