Monday, April 10, 2023

Cory Cross: Garage Rock & Outlaw Rhythms

 

All photos taken in the historic Fort Worth Stockyards by Alan Mercer


Cory Cross is a singer/songwriter born and raised in Fort Worth, TX. Cory got his musical start playing n church, and has been crafting his unique blend of Bluegrass, Americana, and George-Jones inspired Country Music since he was a teenager. His songs have been featured on radio stations across Texas, and his albums have been reviewed and featured by publications such as Fort Worth Weekly and Dallas Observer. Cory continues to perform with his band all around Texas and has several records out on all streaming platforms, including the EP “Holy Spirits” and hit single “I Can’t Walk the Line.”


Alan Mercer: How long have you been performing and writing music?

Cory Cross:  Let’s see, I’m 35 now and I started playing music in church when I was 15, so I’ve been on stages playing music for over half my life. I was 19 when I played my first secular show. I’ve taken time off and worked for the Christian ministry as a music director for a few years, then gave that up and worked full time off and on for about 15 years, but my latest run has been almost 2 years of me working in music full time. Ironically enough, it was when covid started that I quit my ay job and I released an EP right before the lockdown. I’ve been going full time since everything opened up again.

AM:  You are a unique blend of someone who has experience and is also a new artist.

CC:  Yes, I do have the experience of all the little things like working with sound guys, how to write an email, how to get paid, how to promote a show, so I have enough experience with that. When I got started again, I had a solid infrastructure, but I would consider what we’re doing now as new, as far as my personal direction. It’s a new band. We’ve only been together for about a year. Previously I was playing more coffee shops doing the singer/songwriter type of stuff. I was doing a bunch of acoustic shows and now we do primarily full band shows in the dancehall honky-tonks, which is something that I hadn’t done before.

AM:  Who are the musical influences for this new work?

CC:  From the stuff we’re doing right now, we’re definitely drawing from the 90’s stuff that I was hearing on the radio when I was fishing with my uncle. That would be Clint Black, George Strait, Alan Jackson and a lot of that stuff. Me and the rest of the guys in the band have all played in rock n roll bands. Our live shows have that flavor as well.

AM:  Are you recording anything now?

CC:  Yes, we just finished recording a 4 song LIVE in the studio EP. Instead of tracking everything separately like you normally do in a studio, we wanted to capture the feeling of being at a live show. The EP is called ‘Live At Tomahawk Studios’ that will be out in June. We did the music videos in the studio for each song. We just released the video for ‘I Can’t Walk The Line’. I wrote some tunes for this project as well. April 7 is when the first single from the EP, ‘Done Being Good For Good’ will be released. The video is already out and we got over 200 views in less than 2 weeks so we are stoked.

AM:  I can sense your career is about to lift off.

CC:  We believe that too.


AM:  Do you split your time between Fort Worth and Shreveport?

CC:  Yes, I live in Shreveport and my girlfriend works in Shreveport, but my family lives in Fort Worth, so we are splitting our time between the two places. We do runs with Thursday, Friday, Saturday in Fort Worth and then I’ll do weekday restaurants in Shreveport.

AM:  Those restaurant jobs are acoustic, aren’t they?

CC:  Usually. I have a steel guitar player in Shreveport and in Fort Worth. Normally we do the acoustic stuff.

AM:  Do you have any tours coming up?

CC:  We actually have a tour out west in May and June. We’re going out to California and doing stops along the way. We’re going to do 5 or 6 dates in the LA area ad then head over to Colorado.

AM:  They will love you out there.

CC:  There is a market out there for this kind of music.  When we were in our early 20’s we were all in the punk scene and now I feel like our crowd is out there dancing the two-step to honky-tonk music. That’s cool man. I dig it.

AM:  I talk to a lot of musicians, and everyone seems to have a punk music background.

CC:  I know, isn’t that funny? 


AM:  Why do you think that is?

CC:  When we were first discovering music was when Nirvana hit the scene. A lot of people are like me and when we listened to one band, we wanted to go back and hear what influenced them. Kurt Cobain was listening to the Misfits. We are tracing it back, so when we started playing music at 19, we were playing that punk rock stuff. Back in Austin we were doing really sloppy, fast surf rock.

AM:  Where are you getting your current inspiration from?

CC:  It’s the live shows and what the crowds are responding to the most and usually it’s the old 90’s stuff they can dance to. I’m writing my own versions of those without being derivative. I’m throwing in my own influences like the garage rock stuff and mixing it with the outlaw rhythms like Waylon. I’m playing 6 times a week right now and with a full band we are playing 5 or 6 times a month.

AM:  Why do you think you are playing so much right now?

CC:  We were all locked up with covid and now that we are out again people want to get out there and dance. I’m really proud of my singer/songwriter songs and I think there is a place for that, but we are trying to capture the joy of a live setting.  

AM:  I love your song, ‘I Can’t Walk The Line’. Where did that come from?

CC:  I remember vividly getting ready for worship practice at church and that little rift just came to me. I was thinking back to my experience outside the law. It’s a little tongue and cheek.

AM:  I love the humor.

CC:  One of the things I like about country music is the wit. George Jones ‘I’ll Get Over Her When The Grass Grows Over me’, it’s like a punch line. ‘If Drinking Don’t Kill Me, Her Memory Will’, there’s a set up and a punch line. It’s a sad subject matter but you want people to experience some joy.

AM:  You mentioned growing up in the church. Can you tell me a little about that?

CC:  Yes, my dad was a pastor, and my grandfather was a pastor, my great grandfather was a pastor, my brother was a pastor, and my uncle was a pastor. I did that for a little bit and my faith is the most important thing to me, but I feel like God moved me in this direction. It wasn’t like I turned my back on my faith, I just went in a different direction. It’s so important in my life, that now in the secular arena I can be a voice to someone who this can be helpful for. Maybe they won’t hear a sermon or a worship song, but they might follow me and hear my story and then explore their own faith. It could save their life as it really did save my life.

To learn more about Cory Cross visit his web site https://www.corycrossmusic.com/




 


No comments:

Post a Comment

Johnny Chops and His Stories of Redemption

  All photos taken at the Post on River East in Fort Worth by Alan Mercer Johnny Chops has been writing and performing music since his uncle...