Medium Build shares "Home Depot" single, a love letter to Steves everywhere, and readies autumn headline shows

The new track leans into ’90s pop-country a la Shania Twain and Tim McGraw as it introduces a character called Steve, a man who keeps his emotional life sealed behind a well-kept lawn. Carpenter has described the song as a study of the kind of figure who turns up as stepdad, uncle, or father - a guy who can fix your fridge but can't discuss feelings or emotions. “I wanted to commiserate with the women stuck in the orbits of these men,” he said. “As I dug in, what I found was a humanisation of the Steves in my life and a realisation that even on my best day, I am really just like him.”

It follows "Armor", the first preview of King of Having Fun, which will land on 4 September via slowplay/Island Records. The full 14-track album was cut live in-studio with musical director Paul Rogers, engineer Jimmy Manfield, and the player billed as “atmospheric moodmaker” Laiko, with an ear toward what Carpenter calls “rock and roll moments” - the kind of dynamics built for rooms larger than the ones he was playing when 2024’s Country arrived.

Having already supported Tyler Childers, FINNEAS, and Holly Humberstone, Carpenter will warm up for Mumford & Sons across eight arena shows this August, including stops in Atlanta, Charlotte, and New York. His own headline run then opens at Washington DC’s 9:30 Club on 4 October and snakes through Philadelphia, Toronto, Chicago, Minneapolis, Denver, Seattle, San Francisco, and Los Angeles before closing out in late November at Nashville’s Brooklyn Bowl. Rotating support across the tour comes from Ken Yates, Bella White, Merle Law, The Scratch, and Eden Joel. Tickets are on sale now.

The Grand Ole Opry appearance on 5 September - part of the venue’s centenary programme - will be Carpenter’s first, a hometown nod for an artist who now splits his time between Nashville and Anchorage, Alaska. I