Nick Carpenter, Medium Build frontman (Courtesy Nick Carpenter)

Nick Carpenter, Medium Build frontman (Courtesy Nick Carpenter)

Soldotna free music series to debut Wednesday with band Medium Build

The band is the premiere main act of this summer’s free Levitt AMP Concert series

Anchorage-based project Medium Build hits the stage in Soldotna on Wednesday night as the premiere main act of this summer’s free Levitt AMP Concert series.

The event will also mark frontman Nick Carpenter’s first large performance on the central peninsula.

Medium Build’s music — which started taking off in Anchorage in 2016 — is a blend of ‘80s country, ’90s R&B and what the band describes as “grapefruit soda water.”

ADVERTISEMENT
0 seconds of 0 secondsVolume 0%
Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts
00:00
00:00
00:00
 

The band occasionally references and romanticizes life in Southcentral Alaska. In “Be Your Boy,” Carpenter asks a woman if she’ll love him if he moves back to the Valley — a nod, he said, to the Matanuska-Susitna area. In the song “Rabbit,” he comes to a relatively daunting realization at Flattop, one of the Glen Alps’ most visited peaks in Anchorage.

But Carpenter is actually a long way from home. The singer-songwriter is from Atlanta originally.

He moved to Anchorage for the first time in 2009 when he was 18 years old, following his older brother who took a fishing job in Alaska.

“Being from Georgia, I barely made it through the winter,” Carpenter said. “I think I made it to March; I didn’t know it was going to get way better.”

The pair lived in a hostel downtown, and walked to and from Moose’s Tooth to bus tables for work until they were able to get a car that winter. He left Alaska after about seven months, and headed back down south.

Five years of studying songwriting at a college in Nashville and finding his own sound later, Carpenter moved back to Anchorage permanently in 2016.

“Now my whole family’s here, which usually feeds into the myth that the Carpenters are from here,” he said. “But truly we are not.”

The frontman started singing and playing instruments in his church band and chorus, he said, and then dabbled in everything from Nashville-style pop country to indie. After moving back to Anchorage, he wasn’t sure how his music would be received.

“I didn’t really fit in in Anchorage,” Carpenter said. “All the kids were either like hardcore punk or folk bluegrass, so I showed up and started playing bummer indie. I guess my songs are just like folk songs, but I play with one electric guitar, so then people (were) kind of weirded out.”

But after finding a sound that worked — with inspiration from Radiohead, the Beatles, Kacey Musgraves, Billy Joel and others — his career really started to take hold, he said.

“It definitely didn’t work in Nashville but then here I was like, ‘Well no one’s going to like this,’” Carpenter said. “But then people did. They kept asking me to play again.”

He and his group performed as Medium Build for the first time in December 2016, a band name that actually started as an inside joke between Carpenter and a former girlfriend — who was a little offended after she asked how Carpenter would describe her and he first thought of her physical build.

Now Medium Build has played all over, from Alyeska’s Slush Cup Spring Carnival to NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert.

Carpenter will follow Nelson Kempf and Keeley Boyle at Soldotna Creek Park on Wednesday night. The free concerts will run 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. every Wednesday through Aug. 31.

A new Medium Build single is set to drop June 8, Carpenter’s first on a label, which can be found across listening platforms. Follow the band for more music and upcoming shows on Instagram and Spotify.

Reach reporter Camille Botello at camille.botello@peninsulaclarion.com.

More in News

Pool manager and swim coach Will Hubler leads a treading water exercise at Kenai Central High School in Kenai, Alaska, on Tuesday, June 17, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Swimmers, parents call on Kenai to support Kenai Central pool

The KPBSD Board of Education last week said communities will need to step up and take over administration of pools within the next year.

Traffic passes by South Spruce Street in Kenai, Alaska, on Tuesday, June 10, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Kenai drops effort to rename South Spruce Street

The resolution would have changed the name to make it clear which road led to North Kenai Beach

Gov. Mike Dunleavy compares Alaska to Mississippi data on poverty, per-pupil education spending, and the 2024 National Assessment of Education Progress fourth grade reading scores during a press conference on Jan. 31, 2025. Alaska is highlighted in yellow, while Mississippi is in red. (Jasz Garrett / Juneau Empire)
Dunleavy calls special session for August

Lawmakers on Wednesday said they were surprised by the move.

A makeshift coffin decrying the risks of Medicaid funding cuts is seen on Thursday, June 26, in front of the Blazy Mall in Soldotna. The cuts were included in legislation passed by the U.S. Senate early Tuesday morning. (Photo by Jonas Oyoumick/Peninsula Clarion)
Ahead of Senate vote, Soldotna protesters defend Medicaid funding

Cuts to the program were included in legislation passed by the U.S. Senate early Tuesday morning.

Board President Zen Kelly speaks during a meeting of the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District’s Board of Education in Soldotna, Alaska, on Monday, Dec. 2, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Kenai Peninsula Borough school board to finalize budget

The new budget designed by the committee will be considered at a public hearing during the full board meeting on Monday evening.

The Russian River Sanctuary Area is seen in the area labeled B in this map provided by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. (courtesy)
Strong sockeye run prompts early open of Russian River Sanctuary

In regulation, the confluence is expected to be open from July 15 to Aug. 20.

The Swan Lake Fire can be seen from above on Monday, Aug. 26 on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska. (Photo courtesy Alaska Wildland Fire Information)
Burn suspension lifted for Kenai Peninsula and Kodiak

The public is asked to remain vigilant while burning due to minimal available resources.

Commanding Officer Corey Engel, Rear Adm. Megan Dean, and former ASPEN Commanding Officer Shea Winterberger smile for a photograph during the Change of Command ceremony on Thursday, June 26, 2025, on the Homer Spit in Homer, Alaska. (Chloe Pleznac/Homer News)
USCG ASPEN changes command

Commanding Officer Corey Engel will be in charge of the cutter’s operations and crew.

Volunteers repair the trails at Erik Hansen Scout Park in Kenai, Alaska, on Wednesday, June 25, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Volunteers revitalize Kenai scout park

Kenai’s Erik Hansen Scout Park overlooks the mouth of the Kenai River in Old Town.

Most Read