There’s an easy musicality to Melissa Carper. It feels as if her soul is so steeped in music that she could pluck a tune out of the sky, Willie Nelson-like, anytime she wants.

So, it seems like the title track of her new album, Borned in Ya, could be her origin story. The phrase is a quote from bluegrass legend Ralph Stanley, who answered a question about old-time mountain music by saying, “I don’t really think you can get this sound unless it’s borned in ya.”

That’s Carper. She was born into a music-loving family, playing from an early age in the family band. But, the lyrics to “Borned in Ya” suggest it’s more nurture than nature. She tells us in the lyrics how to get there: Listen to the greats, like Hank Williams, Lead Belly and Hazel Dickens. Immerse yourself enough, and the music will be “borned into your blood, into your bones.”

The song itself just might be the catchiest thing I’ve heard this year. “Borned in Ya” swings with old-school R&B, punchy with funky horns, a bouncy piano line and ebullient background vocals from Kyshona Armstrong, Nickie Conley and Maureen Murphy.

The album shows off Carper’s music versatility. Never one to stay in one lane, Carper takes us on a journey through her vision of country, jazz and blues, taking traditional styles and making them fresh and new. The album’s journey provides more smiles to the mile than a trainful of puppies.

Borned in Ya leans into her jazz-flavored crooning, which might come as a surprise to some more familiar with her twangy offerings. But, there’s a reason why her friend and collaborator Chris Scruggs nicknamed her "HillBillie Holiday.”

For example: “I Don’t Love You Anymore” is a beautifully sung heart-crusher of a breakup song reminiscent of Holiday or Ella Fitzgerald. You picture Carper with her hand curled around an old Shure microphone, singing this one at a 1930s nightclub.

“There’ll Be Another One” starts out as another breakup song, but halfway through goes deeper and lusher, as a full string section swells and the lyrics delve into the meaning of a soul living forever. It’s a showstopper.

“Let’s Get Out of Here” is a jaunty piano-based number that sounds like Sinatra with the addition of pedal steel (played by Scruggs) and fiddle.

A Melissa Carper album wouldn’t be a Melissa Carper album without a hefty dash of humor too. “Your Furniture’s Too Nice” – the next phrase is “for me and my doggie” – has her rejecting a too-fancy suitor. And “Somewhere Between Texas and Tennessee” – a co-write with Brennen Leigh – has her “somewhere near Texarkan / We both stopped to use the can / De yodel-a-hee, and got a truck stop coffee.”

Carper’s music harkens back to a time before there were a million genres, to the primordial soup of country, jazz and blues. She’s a shape-shifting troubadour, as utterly comfortable playing down-home mountain ditties as she is playing sophisticated nightclub jazz.

Borned in Ya comes out July 19 via Mae Music and Thirty Tigers.

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