Today we’d like to introduce you to Cole Allen.
Hi Cole, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
Music has been an integral part of my life for as long as I can remember. I was born in Southwest Arkansas into what I call a “bluegrass family.” From Grandaddy to Mother to Sister and Cousins, everyone played something. We weren’t one of those weird, cult-ish bluegrass families, where everyone is home-schooled and marries into other bluegrass families. We went to public school and all that, and were about as normal as a bluegrass family could be. The change for me came when I was a freshman in high school, maybe 15 years old. I was hanging out at my buddy Nick Fox’s house, and his dad knew that I played music, so he put on Dylan’s Highway 61 Revisited album to see what I thought. It really blew my mind. We had plenty to listen to at the house, but it was all Bill Monroe, Flatt and Scruggs, Doc Watson, etc. I obviously had radio, but I never really cared for much of the stuff the local radio stations played. I had a Sony Discman at the time, and I’d go over to Nick’s house and bum CD’s out of his family’s collection. I got really deep into Dylan, The Band, and into some of the Texas songwriter acts like Robert Earl Keen, Jerry Jeff Walker, Townes Van Zandt, and Guy Clark. Like most other teenagers my age, I was going through a rebel phase, however in my case it wasn’t booze or hard drugs, but singer-songwriter folk rock. I remember that I asked for a drum kit for Christmas around that time. The family wasn’t very open-minded when it came to instruments outside the bluegrass world, and Grandaddy told me that drums “weren’t no part of nothin’.” That combined with all my teenage angst was enough for me to want to get out and try things on my own when I was of age. After high school, I channeled my inner Davy Crockett and figuratively told my family, “You can all go to hell, I’m going to Texas!”
I was always pretty good at school. I don’t think I was actually that smart, but just really good at “the school process”. I could learn something and regurgitate it onto paper for a test as good as anybody. Book smart I guess you would call it. So the way I got to Texas was I got a scholarship to the University of Texas at Tyler to study civil engineering. I had hoped to start a band while I was there, but I chose the wrong major for that. I continued my dive into music though. I taught myself harmonica so that I could play guitar and harmonica like Dylan. Not too long after that, I had gone down a rabbit hole into the blues, and I saw some videos of Lightning Hopkins playing and stomping his foot so hard that it provided a rhythm section for his guitar playing. I started doing the same with a kick drum while I played guitar and harmonica.
I graduated college but stayed in the East Texas area and got a job as an engineer. Not too long after that, I stumbled upon Farmer Foot Drums, and they were the coolest thing I’d ever seen. A portable, acoustic drum kit you could operate with your feet. I now had money because of my job, so I bought the drum kit for myself. I started playing around the local ETX scene as a one-man band and never really looked back. I figured if I was going to play music, I’d better write some songs. So around that same time, I started focusing on writing. I now have two albums out and a third is recorded and done but I haven’t set a release date yet. I’ve married and have 3 kids and still work as an engineer. Now music is a way for me to kick back and de-stress, meet people, have fun, and get paid. I’ve softened on my rebellion against bluegrass, and I appreciate it again, but my sound veers more towards that of the rural singer-songwriter.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I don’t think there is a smooth road that’s worth travelling. I also think that if you don’t enjoy the ride, then you probably shouldn’t be driving on that road. I’m not on a road to Nashville, seeking fame. I’m not on the road of playing bars 3 or 4 nights of the week, trying to garner a following or make a living. I’m just on the road that falls underneath my foot each step I take. For better or worse, I’m not very driven or goal-oriented. I’m just trying to enjoy my time while I’m here, and hopefully help others along the way. There are always struggles, but the view wouldn’t be as pretty if it weren’t for them. One of the struggles of a solo musician is that it can be lonely when you don’t have a band. The way to cope with that is to try and connect to the audience. I used to let things bother me. I wanted to play my original songs for people who wanted to listen to songs, yet I was playing to people eating cheeseburgers. The longer I have done this, I’ve realized that you have to take what you are given. Sometimes you can win a crowd over and draw them in, and sometimes you are left to being background noise. I cherish the rare opportunities when I get to play to a quiet listening audience, and I’ve learned how to have fun when no one knows you are there.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
The core of what I do is songwriting, but songwriting is pretty pointless if you don’t play your songs. So to play my songs, I perform as a one-man band with guitar, harmonica, and Farmer Foot Drums. Farmer Foot Drums are an acoustic, portable kit that has a kick, snare, high hat, shaker pedals, tambourines, etc. that can be operated with your feet. It makes me a lot louder and people tend to think you are a lot better than you really are just because you are doing a bunch of stuff at once. It also gives me the freedom to play whatever I want, because casual listeners can be entertained just because of the novelty of what I ‘m doing, but I can connect with people that actually like music through my songs. The thing that I’m most proud of is my upcoming album, as is typical among songwriters. I think most self-aware musicians have a relationship with their music in which they truly believe that the last song they wrote is usually their best one, and over time they start to separate themselves from their earlier catalog. This album is titled “Dry County Culture”, and is more personal that my earlier albums. Being an engineer, I’ve never considered my life interesting enough to write about, so most of my older songs are fiction/narrative. My kids don’t really understand fiction/narrative songwriting when I’m singing a murder ballad in first person, so I started writing songs that didn’t require an explanation.
Do you have any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
Sometimes during the summer we would go up to Mountain View in northern Arkansas to camp, fish, hike, etc. Mountain View is the self-proclaimed “Folk Music Capital of the World”. They would shut down the downtown streets at night, and different groups would assemble to play music together. I always enjoyed learning new (old) songs, and sitting in on the jams.
Contact Info:
- Email: booking@coleallenmusic.com
- Website: www.coleallenmusic.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coleallenmusic/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/coleallenmusicpage/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/lca05003
Image Credits
Travis Perkins
