Tune in to a mini-concert with Medium Build

Nicholas Carpenter of Medium Build says if you slow down his songs, they’re essentially “just three-chord bummer country tunes.”

He’s definitely selling his songs short; Carpenter has spent the past decade crafting deeply personal music that balance humor, vulnerability and heart.

Hailing from Georgia, Carpenter began making music in Anchorage, Alaska, before eventually finding his way to Nashville. He had a breakout year in 2024 with his album, Country, and he’s set to release his new album, King of Having Fun, on Sept. 4. Carpenter describes it as a mix of Alan Jackson-style country and alternative rock in the vein of Weezer and Harvey Danger.

Today, Medium Build joins us for a mini-concert recorded earlier this year at NON-COMMvention in Philadelphia. Enjoy!

This episode of World Cafe was produced by Will Loftus. The web story was created by Miguel Perez. Our engineer is Chris Williams. Our programming and booking coordinator is Chelsea Johnson and our senior producer is Kimberly Junod.