Jeff Carpenter

Jeff Carpenter is a musician and songwriter with the all Native American orchestral rock band Injunuity.

Career

Carpenter, who is of Chickasaw ancestry, began playing music while in grade school in his home town of Ada, Oklahoma, with acoustic guitar as his primary instrument, adding bass guitar, drums, electric guitar, and the saxophone to his repertoire as his interests expanded. In 2007, he was invited by Mississippi Choctaw composer and flutist Brad Clonch to join him in playing Native American music for the Chickasaw Nation Hall of Fame induction ceremony. The group soon branched out to playing venues across the country, in Alabama, New Mexico, and Wisconsin. In July 2013, they headlined the 5th annual Apache Moon Festival in Semione, Switzerland at the invitation of the concert's director.

Discography

Unconquered (2007) Fight for Survival (2010) Nativity — Christmas with Injunuity (2011) Spirits (2012) The full-length EP Fight for Survival has been selected by Phoenix-based Canyon Records for re-release nationally and internationally.

Awards

Carpenter has won several Native American Music Awards, called "Nammys," equivalent to mainstream music's Grammys. In 2008, he and Clonch won a Nammy for Best Debut Group of the Year at the 10th annual Native American Music Awards, presented for the band's first EP release Unconquered. In 2010 the band's third CD Fight for Survival won Carpenter and Clonch a Nammy for Songwriters of the Year. They have also been nominated in the Nammy Best Instrumental Recording category and recently considered for Best Alternative Native Rock Album in the Indian Summer Music Awards.