Today we’d like to introduce you to Kori Wallace.
Hi Kori, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself
I started the same way most musicians do – in the middle school band. Shortly after I picked up the sax, I taught myself how to play the piano. I got a FirstAct drum set soon after that. I always wanted to be able to just explore things musically. Growing up in different cities across the South kind of offered me a different experience than most, though.
When I was living in Miami, local music had so many different sounds that it broadened my horizons. My first gig was actually with a bluegrass group, and my second was with a Sinatra-esque jazz vocalist. Being down south (as in southern Miami-Dade County), you hear the Caribbean sound literally everywhere you turn, too. Then I moved to Memphis, and that changed everything. I already had Mississippi roots (central Mississippi, stand up), so being in Memphis seemed natural in a lot of ways.
I took that rhythm from Florida and learned how to mix it with the soul from around here, and that became my sound. Memphis also became a catalyst for my journey into poetry. Seeing everyday life play out so slowly wherever I went inspired me to tell the stories of the city in ways that stretched beyond lyrics and instruments.
After spending some time on the scene in Atlanta and learning how to capture all of these sounds as a producer, I took off running with the unorthodox combination of words and sounds that now has become my signature.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The road has been far from smooth, but there’s a God in the sky that works His magic every time. To accomplish anything in this industry, you have learned how to hear “no” and somehow understand it as a “not yet”. I had a very turbulent collegiate career, and it ended much shorter than most would be comfortable with. I started teaching just to help line my pockets with cash and quickly discovered that we all struggle and we all have hard times.
My goal as a teaching artist became to provide a spark big enough to keep my students encouraged through their own hard times. I found myself in more educative spaces than I would have liked, while also playing from church to church to keep gas in my car and groceries in my fridge.
Even to this day, I have seasons where the phone doesn’t ring as often as I’d like, but that just motivates me to work even harder to create something impactful. You’ll have shows where only your family and your closest friends (and barely them) will buy a ticket. You’ll have songs that get rejected by every playlist and radio station you send them to. You’ll have days turn into weeks where you haven’t felt like you created something meaningful.
And you’ll have days where you wonder if there’s even a chance you’ll make it. But then, you’ll have a day where one random person tells you how much your work has resonated with them. That phone will ring for a gig you may not even want to take but turns out to be fun anyway.
You might even make enough to order yourself a little steak and a mixed drink from the bar since you’re feeling bougie. It’ll happen, it just takes time and dedication… plus faith.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’m a musician, writer, and producer. I’d like to think that there’s no particular specialty with me. I do what it takes to make art and tell the story. As of 2021, I also act (you’ll see me on some screens this year). I used to dance from time to time, and I was a pretty decent singer for a time. The one thing I know I can’t do is draw. None of my drawings ever made it on the refrigerator display back in the day, but we don’t have to talk about it.
I guess I’m known for my music, but I really don’t think about that often. I just live in my own world and create as much as I can. I think what sets me apart from a lot of other artists is that my goal isn’t to be any one thing. If there’s a story to be told, I’ll use whatever medium to do so. I’m actually working on an album right now that doesn’t feature much of my writing because the story is best told through the voice of the community.
Community is such an important thing to me. Creating a space for people to come in and be their natural selves and tell a story through their many perspectives. That’d be what I’m most proud of. Community building. Whether it’s in the studio, in the classroom, on stage, or serving and supporting people through my community project, I work endlessly on connecting with people and making our surroundings a better place through art.
A place of ambition, a place of healing, inspiration, joy, and so many other good things.
Alright, so to wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to share with us?
Follow me on the gram… Nah, I’m just playing. I appreciate y’all for wanting to see my story be shared. Stay tuned for upcoming music, shows, and other things that are coming. I hope to see y’all at a show.
Bring a friend… a “friend” friend… the friend that’s not really a friend, but if y’all get asked then you say y’all are friends, shoot even best friends… you’ll thank me later, you know what I’m saying? Also, shout out to my kids at the Stax Music Academy.
I love y’all, and I’m your biggest fan, even though I’m hard on you and yell and scream until I’m blue in the face. It’s all love.
Contact Info:
- Email: info@kwallacesounds.org
- Website: www.kwallacesounds.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/korilwallace/?hl=en
Image Credits
Logan Schaal, Crystal Cason, and Lyrikal Jenkins
