About Deana Carter
Deana Carter managed to defy conventional expectations even though she didn’t begin her music career until relatively late in her life. After releasing her debut album Did I Shave My Legs for This in 1996, Deana Carter unexpectedly shot to the top of the country charts and set an unprecedented record for her career. As unexpected as Carter’s success was, it was also noteworthy that she did not quite fit the stereotype of a contemporary country female singer that you usually see in the industry. With Did I Shave My Legs for This, Carter merged the popularity of country singers with the folkier sounds of singer/songwriters like Mary Chapin Carpenter. As a result of this, Carter earned a positive review and a lot of sales, making him one of the most pleasant success stories of the post-Garth Brooks generation.
Early Life and Career
Since Deana Carter was raised in a musical environment thanks to her father, Nashville studio guitarist Fred Carter, Jr., she grew up in an environment that exposed her to a wide variety of music from very early on in her life. The guitarist Fred played guitar for many famous artists throughout his career, including Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan, Waylon Jennings, and Simon & Garfunkel, to name just a few. As Deana attempted to land a record contract at the age of 17, she had not yet shaped her own sound, which was influenced by the music of those artists, which eventually seeped into her style when she initially tried to land the contract. Although Carter tried her best and with the help of her father, she was not able to secure a deal with a label, so she abandoned music to study nursing at the University of Tennessee in place of music. Although she continued to sing for fun while she was in college, she did not devote too much time and energy to music during this time.
Upon graduating from high school, Carter worked at several hospitals before deciding to pursue a music career when he was 23 years old. For the first time, Deana took up the guitar and began to write her own songs even though she had never played one before. It was during this time period that she worked odd jobs while developing her songwriting skills as well as singing at Nashville nightclubs for several years. She had one demo tape that eventually ended up in the hands of Willie Nelson, while the other wound up in the offices of Capitol Nashville. Carter was the only female artist on the Farm Aid VII bill, and Nelson, who knows Carter from her childhood, asked her to perform at the event, which was the first time she had performed at the event as an adult. The contract for Deana Carter was signed by Capitol Nashville within a year of her signing.