Mackenzie Carpenter is making a bold entrance into the country music scene with her debut album, ‘Hey Country Queen,' out now via The Valory Music Co. Co-writing all 13 tracks, Carpenter blends heartfelt storytelling with a deep appreciation for the trailblazing women of country music, crafting a collection that celebrates love, resilience, and girlhood. With songs like ‘Sound Of A Heartbreak,' ‘Only Girl' and ‘Boots On,' she has already captured industry attention, earning recognition as one of MusicRow Magazine’s ‘Next Big Thing’ artists for 2025. You can find our review of the album right here.
A seasoned songwriter with credits for artists like Lily Rose and Megan Moroney, Carpenter now steps into the spotlight with a record that feels both personal and timeless and we caught up with her in London at the C2C festival to talk all about it.
Thanks for talking to us today Mackenzie, we appreciate your time and the chance to talk to you about this wonderful album. How's the jet lag?
So, I got in on Monday and I did was I was told to do from anybody that I'd talked to about making this trip and that was to stay up! I tried to sleep as much as I could on the plane and then hit the ground running. I went straight to Notting Hill and did some shopping, I bought a nice little leather jacket! (laughing)
I also went to Borough Market, which was cool. I'm learning so much about London, the sights and the people…… we've got to go and have a pint, right? (laughing)
Let's jump straight in and ask you – how long did you spend with post-its moving and organising the sequencing of ‘Hey Country Queen'?
Oh my goodness! There was a lot of typing and writing it out, over and over again to see what felt and looked right. I would listen to the starts and the stops of each song to see what fit together well for the listener too. I wanted to hear the connections from song to song and feel what the different vibes were as well.
‘Country Queen' was never going to go anywhere on this record but last was it?
No, although I guess I could have started the album with it. It felt like last was where it was exactly where it was supposed to be because the message in that song was what I really wanted to leave people with. It's meant to be a pat on the back and a hug, all wrapped up in a song.
You've written for artists like Lily Rose, Peytan Porter but most notably, Megan Moroney. How did your friendship and partnership with Megan come about?
I met Megan in Georgia, way before either of us set our sights on Nashville! We were writing together early on just as we were both trying to figure out what it was we wanted to do. She came over to my parents' house and we wrote a song on the back deck with my friend, Kyle and we kept in touch. She ended up in Nashville, I ended up in Nashville and we kept writing together and one day we ended up in a room together with my brother, Micah and Ben Williams and the four of us clicked and had so much fun in the room.
We started writing together without really knowing whether anything would come of it. From the start we were writing for Megan, I've always wanted to write for myself but also write for others too. Megan felt really felt connected to the songs we had written and then, all of a sudden, like, it felt like it was overnight, the songs took off. We've toured together and I'm going back out with her soon, it's really sweet of her to grab me by the arms and pull me alongside with her.
As Megan moves into a space where she's probably beginning to think about her next album and you've just put out your debut – will you still be writing together?
We are! We've actually just done a trip writing some new songs together. At the end of the day, you know, it's ultimately up to her what she chooses to use in the next phase of her career but I have to say that I am a little biased but I think we wrote 6-7 songs that would be amazing for her to use! (laughing)
If she doesn't use them could they come your way for album number 2?
Absolutely!
Tell me about your upbringing because you've got your co-writer and brother, Micah, over here in London with you this weekend! Was it all music, music, music in your house growing up?
You know, we grew up normal, we just all picked up instruments at early ages. I was singing, mostly, whilst the boys were playing all kinds of instruments. They taught me how to play guitar and piano and we always had that going on. I have two brothers…..
Have you never thought about forming a band together then?
You know, my oldest brother, Maclean, just wasn't that into it. He's the most perfect campfire singer – he'll turn up and he knows all the hits to entertain everybody! (laughing) It was never really his cup of tea in terms of what myself and Micah went on to do.
My dad lived in Nashville before he had kids and so he knew what we had to do in terms of songwriting. I was in high school when I first started and songwriting and the rest is history! (laughing)
When you are writing for yourself are you a different person and presence in the room compared to when you are writing for other artists like Megan?
That's a good question. I would say yes, definitely. Something that's really special about what you learn in Nashville is that I've been taught how to be what's needed in the room on any given day. Every time you show up, as the writer, you need to figure out what it is the room needs from you based on the people in it.
Does it need an idea? A melody? Some instrumentation? Lyrics?
Tyler Hubbard said exactly the same thing to me, almost verbatim, the other day…….
(laughing) So, I'm on the right path then! I'm not a crazy person! (laughing) You've know who you are walking into a room with on any given day so you can do a little bit of prep first. You then also need to be on your toes in making sure you are fulfilling the role that you've been brought in to achieve – sometimes someone else has something really strong to say and you just take the back seat and sometimes it's your day! No two writes are ever the same, which is the fun part of it – it's always changing.
Which song on your album took you the longest to get it to where you wanted it to be?
What a good question! ‘A Dozen Red Flags' was one that was a little bit tricky when we were writing it. We needed to get it just right in terms of connecting the red flags with the red roses and all the flower references. ‘Don't Mess With Exes' took a while to land. Sometimes when you have a clever idea you don't want to overdo it so you have to think about it a little more to make sure you are on the right path – doing just enough to make it a cool song without doing too much or getting too complicated.
I really like ‘Huntin' Season.' Was that close to making it onto the album like a couple of your older songs have done?
Thank you! You know, that song was such a major moment on my EP that we felt like we wanted it to live on in that space. My older fans know where that song is and they can go find it there if they want, it's still one of my most popular songs. I still play it live, pretty much every show, but we felt like it deserved to represent my 2023 EP rather than just be brought across to the album.
‘Gone Fishin' has got huge ‘Goodbye Earl' vibes. Were The Chicks a big influence on you growing up?
Yessss! I'm so glad you noticed. I was a big fan of theirs – their harmonies, their voices, their whole brand situation…….. They did it so well. I felt like they gave guys a warning with that song and if they are still acting up ‘Gone Fishin' will definitely bring an end to them! (laughing)
‘Sound of a Heartbreak' gives me early Shania vibes. Did you write the song with that rock & roll guitar line or was that something that was added in production?
So, we actually wrote it specifically with that sound. Brandon Hood, who is the producer on this album, was really good in helping me not go into the room everyday and write a song that sounded the same as the one I'd written the previous day, right? He was very encouraging in getting me to think about different vibes – what's the opener to the show going to sound like? What's the big ballad?
We wanted a song that we could play in arenas that would sound like an anthem and we wrote that day with Liz Rose, who was feeling the same way, there was something in the air that day. I'd originally had the ‘Sound of a Heartbreak' idea as being a really slow, sad song but we took it and made it an uptempo anthem!
There's lots of 90s vibes on this album and then ‘Cowgirl Like Me' comes along – which Micah produced – Morgan Wallen could have included that song on his next album!
Here's the thing….(laughing) I wanted this album to be a little bit similar to the way I listen to music, which is a little bit all over the place. The ‘Wallen movement' is huge out there right now and I like lots of his music – I like pre-gaming and going out into bars and listening to music and I wanted my own ‘hot girl' anthem, right? (laughing)
I wanted a song that me and the girls could listen to when we were getting ready to go downtown and also one that we could dance to later on in the evening and ‘Cowgirl Like Me' was the one that came out!
‘Boots On' was a big viral hit for you…….
You mentioned Shania earlier, I feel like I channeled some inner-Shania on that song! (laughing)
So which of these songs are going to go to radio, do you think, because you could choose so many of them?
That's a great question. There's a lot of different radios out there! I really have a good feeling about ‘I Wish You Would,' the song I did with Midland and we haven't even talked about that one yet! Having them as partners on that song really helped to take it to the next level. ‘Gone Fishin' has been a great crowd favourite and one that has connected with people too.
Go check out Mackenzie Carpenter's ‘Hey Country Queen' album – out in all the usual places right now.
