Deana Carter brings music and heart to Burke County following Hurricane Helene

Carter is scheduled to play a 7:30 p.m. show on Nov. 6 at CoMMA Performing Arts Center. The event was originally scheduled for Oct. 5, but Helene had other ideas. Due to power outages, downed trees, and water issues in the county, CoMMA officials had to postpone the concert.

CoMMA Events Manager Amber Austin said Carter’s concert has been in the works for quite a while.

“CoMMA is thrilled to finally host Deana in Morganton,” Austin said. “Nineties country music has consistently been a top seller at our venue, and we expect that Deana’s well-known hits will be enthusiastically received by the community.

“We had originally planned for Deana to perform in September 2020, but the entire season was derailed by the COVID-19 pandemic,” Austin explained. “Now we have been forced to postpone her performance a second time, this time due to the impact of Hurricane Helene. Despite these delays, we know Deana’s show will be well worth the wait.”

A CARING HEART

Carter said the people of our community have been on her mind and in her heart. A Nashville native who attended college in Knoxville, she feels a special kinship with people of the mountains and foothills.

“I’m so honored to be there,” she said, when asked about her upcoming performance. “It’s been such a place in my heart, that whole area, you know.

“We just love y’all and we’re sending all the love and support we can,” she added. “We’re excited to be coming.

“We’re always excited to come and wrap our arms around people and play music,” she added.

According to the singer, the recent tragedy gave her a moment’s pause when she rescheduled the show.

“I just don’t want to ever trivialize what people are going through,” she stated. “But at the same time, I want people to know we’re really hoping to come and lift spirits and help them have a good time.”

The audience at Carter’s CoMMA concert is in for a treat. She will play favorites from her catalog of music, including the No. 1 hit “Strawberry Wine,” from her 1995 multi-platinum album, “Did I Shave My Legs For This?”

NASHVILLE ROOTS

Carter was born and raised in Nashville, daughter of famed studio guitarist and producer Fred Carter Jr. Her father’s tight professional and social circles included a who’s who list of country music and rock royalty.

Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Simon & Garfunkel, Muddy Waters, Dolly Parton, John Anderson, and Levon Helm, were part of Carter’s young life and the superstars’ music influenced the singer/songwriter when she found her own voice in the industry.

She said her work bears echoes of her own experiences and eclectic musical tastes, as well as from a life lived among music greats, not the least of whom was her own dad.

“Growing up in Nashville, for sure, I was influenced by that amazing area, the town, and the industry, but it was more of that community I was around as a child.

“My dad was in the studio with so many different genres of music,” Carter explained. “He played on all the hits that came out of Nashville, pop, rock, country, and what was known as folk back then, with Joan Baez and Bob Dylan. Now it’s called Americana.

“Creatively, he was always at the center of the hits because of his guitar playing and his sound,” she said.

Carter shared that while her father enjoyed being a part of the Nashville music machine, he had a special place in his heart for those artists who stood out as different within the system.

“He was a unique artist in his own right, so talented as a producer and songwriter,” she said, “but he just loved artists that had their own unique sound, that marched to their own drummer and those were the people that he loved the most.”

“Those were the people that he was really passionate about,” she added. “And that’s what influenced me as a kid in the household with my parents.”

Carter credits her grandmother, who led music in their church, for the gospel influence in her songs, and attributes her parents’ Louisiana Delta roots for the blues sounds listeners can also pick out in her work.

Carter said she also has a heart for classic rock, the genre she and her band often listen to when they are on the road.

And then there’s bluegrass.

“I love some bluegrass,” she said. “Oh yeah, like, when I’m on the (Grand Ole) Opry with Ricky Skaggs and those guys. It’s crazy. I just love to sit and watch how talented they are.”

A MULTIFACETED SHOW

The audience at Carter’s upcoming Morganton show can expect an evening of music that reflects her multifaceted life experiences.

“You’ll probably feel a little more of a rock influence, I guess in our show, just a little bit,” she explained. “It’s really cool performing live.

“You get to bring those records to life for the audience in a different way that’s a little bigger than life,” Carter added. “It just makes it a more tangible reality for all of us to expound on the recordings.”

Carter said she loves to look into the crowd and see fans singing along to the lesser-known songs from her albums.

“I’m so honored when people are singing album tracks, you know, at the top of their lungs,” she said. “They’re singing these songs that you wouldn’t think everybody would know.”

Carter will bring her own blend of country and retro-rock to Morganton on Wednesday, Nov. 6. Tickets are available at the CoMMA box office during regular business hours, Monday through Friday from noon to 5 p.m., or on the auditorium’s website, www.commaonline.org.