Today we’d like to introduce you to Kassie Wilson.
Hi Kassie, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers.
I am originally from Cullman, AL, and moved to Nashville when I was 19 years old. I moved here to pursue my dreams of a music career. I met my now husband, Ben Wilson at a small start-up church that was meeting in the cafeteria of a school in a suburb of Nashville. He was playing guitar for the worship and I was just visiting but I knew then I was brought there to meet him. Ben and I have been married for 13 years and have been playing music together ever since we met. Although it wasn’t till 7 years ago that we officially became a duo. Our duo is called GOLDPINE. We’ve been full-time musicians for 10 years. Being able to do what you love with the person you love is truly a gift. Our music takes us all over and we are able to share our songs and stories with so many people. Ben and I have made 7 trips to Rwanda, Africa. We have a beautiful sponsor daughter, Kevine whom we’ve had the privilege to sponsor for 10 years. We started going on mission trips, then we started leading teams to Rwanda, and now we just go on our own. For us, music is our ministry and we love being able to use and share our gifts with people.
I’ve personally had a really rough couple of years. My precious mama, Deborah Miller, went to be with the Lord a year ago in July. She was sick for three years, but never gave up. She was the toughest woman I’ve ever known. She was such a fighter! She was my mama but she was also my best friend. She moved to Nashville not long after me and moved in with me. I loved having my mama as a roommate. We were extremely close. I was so grateful to be with her every step of the way till she left this world. One of the last times she was in the hospital we wrote her a song called “My Favorite Parts of You”. I’d always wanted to write a song for her to speak to her through my language of music. It was her favorite song and we even made a video with her in it. I will always treasure that video. Eventually, we got selected as a finalist in the “Kerrville New Folk Songwriter Competition” and we won “The Rocky Mountain Songwriters Competition” with her song, and I was so touched by that. She will forever live on through me and our music. Since her passing, we have gone all-in with our music. We spend most of the year on the road touring in our ProMaster van that Ben converted into a tiny home. This past year we’ve already put over 30,000 miles on her.
We were touring in Colorado in August when I started having severe pains in my pelvis. I went to the doctor on the road and was misdiagnosed two different times. When we returned to Nashville in September the pains came back… and much worse. I went to my doctor and they decided to do further testing. In one week’s time, I saw my doctor, had an ultrasound, and a CT scan met with a GYN/surgeon and had surgery on a Monday. It was a whirlwind, to say the least. They found a 9-inch (6-pound) tumor in my ovary and thought it could be cancer. We were all shocked and in disbelief. We canceled some of the tours so that I could have the surgery and recover. While I was in surgery they did a biopsy and it came back ‘borderline’, so they also had to do a full hysterectomy. It was a major surgery and I was in the hospital for two days and then home to recover. When I went back for my 2-week follow-up, the doctor said all the biopsies came back with NO cancer! We were ecstatic and so grateful to God. They say it takes 4-6 weeks to recover, but I was bound and determined to get back on the road. I was back on the road two and a half weeks later playing at The Opelika Songwriter’s Festival! I recently just flew back home for my 6-week follow-up appointment and the doctor said that I’m doing great. You know Ben and I have never had the desire to have children of our own, so if this had to happen to anyone, I’m glad it happened to me. I know so many women just want children of their own. It hasn’t been easy by any means, though. Menopause is no joke! But what can ya do? I’m just grateful to be alive, that they found it and that there was no cancer. Could it come back? Yes, it could… but that’s not going to control my thoughts or my life. We will walk that bridge if it ever comes up.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
In the music industry, there are always struggles. We are independent artists which mean we are our own team. We have been doing everything… booking, promotion, managing, merchandising, driving, writing our music, and producing our own records. It’s a lot, and very consuming.
Plus, we are married so we are also maintaining a healthy balance between us and our music. When you do everything, you could literally work all the time. So we have to set boundaries and make ourselves stop working. So that can definitely be challenging. I’m also happy to say that we just recently signed up with Cumberland Music Collective Booking Agency, so they will be booking for us now.
That is an answered prayer that we’ve been waiting for!
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I and my husband, Ben are a full-time musicians. We have been for 10 years. We travel all over the US and Africa singing and sharing our stories and talents. We tour in our ProMaster van that Ben converted into a tiny home. We play festivals, venues, house concerts, and listening rooms. We say we are Americana but really we are storytellers.
We always say when people leave our shows we want them to feel like they read our diaries.
Songwriting is so special to us. We write about things that are near and dear to our hearts, struggles we or family members have faced, We just want to be transparent and real with our lyrics. We recently won the “Rocky Mountain Songwriters Competition” in Montana and were selected as a finalist in the Kerrville New Song Songwriters Competition with our song “My Favorite Parts of You. We also just released our debut album “One” a full-length 10-song album. It’s available on all streaming platforms and we vinyl! Our first vinyl ever, so excited about that!
Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
Being a full-time musician is a risk in itself. There are no guarantees, no refunds, and no exchanges. But when it’s something you love it’s totally worth it. We have heard a lot of No’s in our career but that hasn’t and won’t stop us.
Being a musician is an adventure and you never know what tomorrow will bring. But as long as I am doing that with Ben I know we will always make the best out of every situation and we learn from every mistake or success.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://goldpinemusic.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/goldpinemusic/
- Facebook: https://www.instagram.com/goldpinemusic/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/goldpinemusic
- Other: https://goldpinemusic.com/stream
Image Credits
Raechel Curtis, Emily Frances Ellis, MFA-1, and Little Blackbird Photo
