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.
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