By: Kat Harlton
Since the release of her breakthrough single, “Sunday Shoes”, Alessia Cohle has won the hearts of country music fans nationwide. She performed at Canadian Country Music Week in 2016 where she shared the stage with artists like Aaron Pritchett and Meaghan Patrick, she also had the opportunity to open for Brett Kissel on his 2017 Ice, Snow & 30 Below tour.
Now, Cohle is promoting her latest work, an EP “Wild Eyed Wanderer“, that focuses on themes of travel and freedom, inspiring listeners to take a leap of faith and explore, something that Cohle says is very personal “The line ‘I’m a wild eyed wanderer stumbling to my dream’ really resonated with me because I love learning about new cultures, exploring the world and exploring myself as well. Travel is very much a passion of mine, so to be able to put both of those together, the traveling and my music, was really exciting. I’m a co-writer on all six songs and it was really important to me to be able to tell my story. Musically there’s influences of soul, R&B and classic rock with country roots, because I’m still a country artist at heart. It was really important that I was able to explore myself as a musician and as an artist, people always use the phrase ‘finding yourself’ but I think it should be more ‘creating yourself’.
Creating herself has given Cohle the confidence to find her voice, and be vulnerable when bringing material to the table ” I love co-writing, some people don’t like it, but I love it, because I get to bounce around ideas off other people and they bring something to the song that I may not have thought of and vice versa. It gets really interesting when there’s more than two of you in the room, and it’s been really nice that everyone’s ego stays at the door, and you come in and know it’s a safe, creative space. Sometimes you’ll bring nothing to the table, and sometimes you’ll bring a lot, and it’s really exciting to experience both of those sides.”
Her track ‘Always A Bridesmaid’ showcases Cohle’s confidence in herself and what she has to say “That song is very much my life right now and I think a lot of women can relate to it, because things are happening later and later in life, and us as women get to make that decision of ‘I don’t need to be married or have children right now. I’m doing my own thing, and I’m chasing a different dream, what’s wrong with what I’m doing?.’ I wanted to make it a positive thing. This song needs to be written, and I needed to write this song.”
Cohle’s fierceness for being an independent woman following her dreams can be traced all the way back to her childhood “Shania Twain was the first concert I ever saw, the ‘Come On Over Tour’, and I was hooked from day one. I tell everyone this, I pointed at the stage and looked at my mom and said ‘That’s what I’m going to do’.”
Now, years later Cohle is making good on her declaration having opened for Canadian Country superstar Brett Kissel on his 2017 Ice, Snow & 30 Below tour after winning a contest. “It was really sweet because he tweeted to me after the ‘Kick It With Kissel’ contest, and he private messaged me on Twitter, and said ‘Don’t tell anybody, but it’s gonna happen for you, you’re going to be getting the phone call.’ I think my response to him before even saying thank-you was ‘Is this real life?.’ It was the longest few weeks, and it was around Christmas time, so I was like ‘I don’t know if this is real or not’. That whole experience was incredible and the audience was welcoming, which for me, was the most nerve wracking part, but I just jumped right in.”
You can catch Alessia Cohle as part of Indie Week at Toronto’s Supermarket on November 9th.