Carson Amanda "Carsie" Blanton is an American singer-songwriter based in New Orleans, Louisiana who performs on guitar. Blanton has released six studio albums and three EPs. She has released all her music with a "pay what you please" pricing strategy. Blanton wrote "My true calling as an artist is to share…What I actually want to do is make beautiful music and then give it to everyone, regardless of what they give me back". Gene Shay called her "one of the best singer/songwriters in the business." Blanton says she writes "a lot about sexuality and gender and a little bit about politics as well." She also writes a blog that deals with sex.
Early life
Carsie Blanton grew up on a former cattle farm in Luray, Virginia. She underwent homeschooling and her parents were hippies. She began taking piano lessons at age 6, and playing guitar and writing songs at age 13. In 2002, at age 16, Blanton went to live in a group house with other artists and musicians in Eugene, Oregon. In Eugene, she sang back-up vocals for a touring funk group, took up swing dancing, and started her first band, The Short Skirts.
Career
Blanton recorded and self-released her first album Hush in 2002. Her first studio albumAin't So Green, produced by Steve Van Dam of Everything, followed in 2005. In 2006, Blanton relocated from Eugene to Philadelphia to pursue her music career full-time. She began working with manager Bill Eib, and by 2007 she was playing over 100 live shows a year. In 2008, along with Jon Darvill, Blanton created Quidplayer, an embeddable "pay what you please" MP3 player and store. In 2010, Blanton performed live on NPR's nationally syndicated program, Mountain Stage, and opened for The Weepies, and Shawn Colvin. In February 2011, Blanton toured with Anaïs Mitchell's Hadestown, playing the role of Head Fate. In November 2011, Blanton opened several shows on Paul Simon's So Beautiful or So What tour. In 2013, she ran a successful Kickstarter campaign to fund her album Not Old, Not New, raising over $60,000. Since 2013, Blanton's "Smoke Alarm" is used as the theme song for the podcastTangentially Speaking with Dr. Christopher Ryan. She has also been a guest of the show. In 2014, Blanton performed on the nationally syndicated NPR program Song Travels with Michael Feinstein. In 2017, she invented a card game called The F'ing Truth and sought funding on Kickstarter. In 2019, she released "Buck Up", which was favorably reviewed by NPR's .
