Lucas Carpenter will perform his recently released EP “Art Kids from the Country: Volume 1” at Alabaster Coffee Roaster & Tea Company on Saturday.

When he was in his freshman year of high school, Jersey Shore native Lucas Carpenter made the decision to join two extracurricular activities — choir and theater — that would ultimately help steer the direction his life would go. Though he maybe didn’t realize it at first, it didn’t take Carpenter long to discover that he felt most like himself while up on stage.

Decades later, Carpenter still spends as much time performing as he possibly can. After honing his skills as a songwriter at Boston’s prestigious Berklee College of Music, he’s spent most of his adult life living and performing in cities like Pittsburgh, Boston, Philadelphia and New York City, before ultimately moving to Nashville in 2012.

Though he hasn’t performed his music for a local audience since before the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, Carpenter is finally set to make a return to the area. Out on tour in support of his newest release, “Art Kids from the Country: Volume 1,” he will perform with Chapel Bell at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Alabaster Coffee Roaster & Tea Company, 400 Pine St.

“I’m super excited. Williamsport has always been one of my favorite places to play,” Carpenter said. “With so many friends and family, it’ll be a great time.”

For Carpenter, growing up as a kid involved in theater provided him with numerous valuable lessons and experiences. He learned how to work with people from all walks of life to pull off a big production. It taught him how to feel comfortable in front of a large crowd, and how to adapt on the fly. But perhaps most importantly, it connected him with many other creative people from around the region that he would have otherwise never met.

In school, he performed in productions like “The Sound of Music,” “Woman of the Year” and “South Pacific.” In addition to those, he also made it a point to act in one Community Theatre League show every year, with parts in “The Crucible,” “Sally Blane: World’s Greatest Girl Detective” and “Bye, Bye Birdie.” His time with CTL helped shape him so much, in fact, that the title track from his newest EP even includes the lyric, “We lived and died for the Community Theatre League.”

“Art Kids from the Country: Volume 1” is Carpenter’s follow-up release to 2020’s “The Shimmer.” He said the idea for the five-song EP didn’t happen overnight. After writing the song “Art Kids from the Country” many years ago as a way of telling his life’s story, he initially felt the tune was too specific to him and that nobody else would really connect to it. However, he soon learned that couldn’t be further from the truth.

“As I toured over the years and played it, I found that not only did so many people relate to it, but it was a concept that no one else had really written about,” he said. “It kind of became my ‘brand’ and, after writing other songs that went with the theme, I wanted to revisit the song and make it into a concept project.

“Being a creative person, you can always feel a bit different. But when you’re from a small area you can feel very different,” he added. “Not all great art comes from big cities, and it’s nice to get to represent a different side of art and rural America as well.”

Once recording for the EP started, it took two week-long sessions that were spread out over a couple of months to complete the project. Working with famed multi-instrumentalist and producer Bleu –who has created music with artists like Demi Lovato, Selena Gomez and Meatloaf — the songs were recorded during sessions in California, Virginia and Tennessee.

“I’ve been a fan (of Bleu) since I was in college,” said Carpenter. “It was pretty exciting to work together.”

While Bleu produced all the tracks on the EP, the song “Keep ’em Guessin'” was co-produced by Steeple Doves. Aside from a few parts, Carpenter said he and Bleu provided all the instruments and vocals on the tracks. Though he usually enters the studio with a clear vision in mind of how he wants things to sound, Carpenter mentioned that this time around he deferred to Bleu’s expertise while recording.

“I love his production and pop sensibility, so I trusted him,” Carpenter said. “It’s hard, but sometimes you have to just let go of some of the control.”

Carpenter’s biggest influences growing up were Paul McCartney and The Beatles, which shines through clearly in his music. Lyrically, however, he likens his style to Paul Simon and a mix of country artists he grew up listening to, as his songs are very story-oriented and descriptive.

Though he can sometimes write a song from start to finish in one sitting, Carpenter said it can occasionally take many sessions before one gets completed. He will typically start by developing a song title through a freewriting exercise, then generate the chorus before creating the verses. Since his songs usually revolve around a theme or story, he likes to have the concept in place before he maps out what he wants the other parts of the song to do.

“It can be very technical, but I find it’s the best way to write a tight song,” he said. “The big thing is balancing the raw emotion and feeling, while still writing a technically well-written song. All good songs have both!”

When performing live, Carpenter’s favorite songs from the EP to play are “Two Peas in a Pod,” because of its fun mandolin riff, and “Uppercase Love,” which is an easy one for the audience to sing along to. He said the latter song is one of his favorites that he’s ever written.

“It was actually written for a prompt night that’s hosted by the Pindrop Songwriter Series in Nashville,” he said. “Every couple months, they put on a night where all the songwriters performing that night write a song to the same word or phrase. That month it was ‘First Love’ and I wrote ‘Uppercase Love’ for that show.

“It’s very true to my life, but it’s extra special because it was spawned from this songwriting community in Nashville that has become my musical family,” Carpenter added. “It’s a blending of where I come from and where I’m at now. I’m very proud of that song.”

Overall, Carpenter said the reception to his latest effort has been “great,” and it feels good to finally have all the songs — which he’s been playing around Nashville for a while — all in one collection.

“I hope it makes (listeners) feel good, and that they can relate to it in some fashion,” he said. “It’s a very fun, pop-heavy album.”

For more information on Carpenter and his upcoming performance in Williamsport, visit lucascarpenter.net. His music can be found on many major streaming services.