Introducing… Caroline Kole
At just 16 years old, Caroline Kole has had quite the career already. Hailing from Tampa, Florida, the talented young singer/songwriter has opened for the likes of superstars such as Reba, Eric Church, Blake Shelton, Martina McBride, and many more.
Kole, who is managed by Narvel Blackstock of Starstruck Management Group (also home to Reba, Shelton, and Kelly Clarkson), signed a publishing deal with Sony/ATV in 2011 and today, she’s releasing her debut EP on Starstruck Records.
CountryMusicIsLove recently caught up with Caroline to discuss her influences, touring with Reba, and her new EP “Money To Me.” See what she had to say below…
CMIL: How long have you been writing and performing?
CK: I’ve been performing since I was nine, but singing and songwriting and playing guitar since I was eight. It’s half my life, which is really crazy to think about, but I can’t think about it any other way to be quite honest. I picked up the guitar because I suck at sports. I tried, I swear, I did. I’m kind of OK at volleyball, but it just ended up being a hazard to everybody else. When I got to be about thirteen or fourteen, I had performed all over the state of Florida at that point and really took a look at myself and where I was and I knew really wanted to take it to the next level.
CMIL: What prompted your family’s decision to move to Nashville?
CK: You see those people performing at the CMA awards and getting the CMA awards and you can’t help but be inspired and be so motivated that this is what you wanted to do. I wanted to be there. So my family and I made the move up to Nashville after I was offered a publishing deal with Sony ATV when I was fourteen. Now I’m with Starstruck records and opening for Ms. Reba. This is fantastic. I’m still kind of trying to figure this all out.
CMIL: Tell us about your relationship with Reba and getting to tour with her.
CK: It’s so fantastic especially since I grew up listening to her. Growing up listening to country music you grow up hearing your mom talk about her and dad singing along to her songs on the radio and just really looking up to her as a role model and now, of all of a sudden, I am in her presence on a regular basis. I’m opening up for her and she’s giving me advice. That’s pretty much what it’s like.
CMIL: What’s a piece of advice that Reba gave you that you will always remember?
CK: She and her husband Narvel have been so great in helping me with this journey. She said things to me like we’re very similar in the way that we’re both pursuing this music thing. Of course, she’s gone on to accomplish so, so much in all fields; Broadway and in the music world, and TV, but to hear her say, “We’re not that different” was really cool. To hear her say, “When one door closes it closes for a reason and another one will open” and “If something happens it was meant to be and if it doesn’t it wasn’t meant to be.” They really believe really strongly in that and I do too. It’s just really cool to have somebody like that on your side and helping you through all of it.
CMIL: Besides Reba, who are some of your musical influences?
CK: Pat Benatar for sure, Ms. Sheryl Crow. I love me some Charlie Daniels, I’m not going to lie. And Dierks Bentley…but I kind of grew up listening to a ton of stuff, just a really diverse kind of group of stuff.
CMIL: Tell us about your new single, “Money To Me.”
CK: On“Money To Me,” there’s three writers. It’s myself, James Slater, and Bobby Hamrick. I love James and Bobby to death. They come over to my house on a regular occasion. We have dinner and then after dinner, we’ll go upstairs and we’ll write and just hang out. “Money To Me” was written on one of those occasions. We’ll have dinner and kind of talk for a minute, go upstairs with our guitars, pianos, and some recorders. James came in singing “I want to write ‘Love Is Free,’ man” and we’re like, “Awesome. Cool. That’s great. It’s so unique,” but we were really hitting a wall and every lyric that we came up with and every corner that we turned was that. My little sister came up with some blueberry cobbler that we could nibble on for dessert, my grandma’s recipe is my favorite thing ever, and I stare at the blueberries and I look up at the guys and I’m like, “Hey is this stupid?” and I say “I love when we go blueberry picking” and Bobby looks at me and he’s like, “Does anybody even go blueberry picking anymore?” and we kind of just went from there. It stuck and it worked. We started playing that groove and put the words to it. After that it all just started coming together. I’m so amazed at how far it’s gone. It got from playing on commercial radio and now they’re playing it on Sirius XM and we get a music video. It’s been crazy.
Fans can keep up with Caroline Kole on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Be sure to visit her official website to learn more.
Click HERE to purchase Kole’s EP, Money To Me, on iTunes. Check out the “Money To Me” music video below.
