Meet Cole Walker

Today we’d like to introduce you to Cole Walker.

Hi Cole, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Gosh, where do I begin…so I’m originally from Albany, GA, where all I knew to do was go to the roller-skating rink, movie theater, or my personal favorite: hang out at my best friend’s farm. I forced a couple of my friends in the first grade to start a band with me and write songs, which basically meant we would bang on buckets and boxes in the driveway with a stick and write chicken scratch on a notebook (man I wish I could find that thing…). My Mom signed me up for this Battle of the Bands Summer camp when I was around 8 or 9 where they put us all into bands, gave us a couple songs to learn, and then we spent a few weeks rehearsing for the “big” Battle of the Bands show, where all of our friends and fam would come (our band ended up winning:). Other than a few choir solos and musical theater with the high schoolers, this was one of the first times I was like, “dang, this is fun”. In 2011, my mom and I moved to Myrtle Beach, SC where I went from a private school in Georgia with a class of about 50 to a public school with a class of a few hundred in the middle of 5th grade where I didn’t know anybody; it was a big shift, to say the least lol…I had only been there a couple months when I learned about this place called The School of Rock. It was pretty similar to what I had done in Georgia, except this time, our band got to play at all these different venues around the Myrtle Beach and Murrells Inlet area. So later that year, we were singing songs like “Takin’ Care of Business” and “Kryptonite” at the Hard Rock Cafe and House of Blues; I was hooked. I did that for a couple of years and at 14, I wrote my first sorta developed country song called “Mean Everything to Me”, which was about the first girl I fell in love with (cause a 14-year-old knows everything about love, right? lol…and no, this song is deep in the archives where nobody will ever ever hear it). I wrote a couple more, but on top of sports and starting high school, I kinda put songwriting on the back burner. My first choir director in Myrtle Beach ended up moving upgrades with our class all the way to high school, so I continued to be involved in that, and my sophomore year, our school started its first “show choir”, which was basically everything we had been doing in choir except now we added choreography and more freedom on stage; I still have two left feet to this day, but we had a lot of fun. My friends and choir director convinced me to audition for the Spring musical ‘Into the Woods, and I ended up getting one of the lead roles as a Prince; it was a different element for me but one I really enjoyed. That following Summer, I auditioned for this show called ‘High Steppin’ Country’, which is still one of the longest-running shows in Myrtle Beach. It was a cast of 14 of us that did everything from “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” to Jason Aldean with, at the time with my two left feet, pretty intense choreography. Around that same time, I started helping lead worship at Palmetto Shores Church, and this is really where my Faith journey began as well. I went on to continue doing musical theater throughout high school and got to play Joseph in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat my junior year, and my senior year, I got to play Danny Zuko in Grease, which honestly was some of the most fun I’ve had on stage to this day. My senior year, my choir director recommended this college in Nashville, TN called Belmont University, so I applied and after graduating high school a semester early in December of 2017, I packed my bags and guitar and hit the road. Before starting college, I interned at a music publishing company and started working on my songwriting again. There’s a lot more in between I could touch on, but fast forward to today, I’m in my last semester at Belmont, and it has been an awesome past few years to say the least. The whole world shutting down was a tough couple years, but a lot of good came out of it. My band and I got together in the Spring of 2020, got to spend more time with family and friends, and I released my first single, “You’re My Girl”, in October of 2020. In 2021, I released two more singles, “Started with a Truck”, and “Ride Round Town”. Fast forward to more recently in March of 2022, I released my first EP called “Just Gettin’ Started”, which features 4 new songs: “Over You”, “Shoes to Fill”, and “Last Kiss”, and “My Grandpa”. It’s been an awesome journey so far, and I’m looking forward to getting back in the studio with some new ones here soon! 

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I believe we all experience highs and lows, and my road definitely hasn’t been the smoothest by any means, but I’m extremely blessed to have a supportive family and group of friends that I can always talk to and vice versa. Growing up as the only child in a split household wasn’t always the best looking back, but it was all I knew and taught me a lot at an early age. I’ve been on both ends of really tough breakups and sometimes feel like I’ve lived the emotional life of a 70-year-old lol, but to look back and see how God has brought myself and everybody else through that reminds me that it was all a part of His plan; not to mention it’s made for some pretty good song inspiration over the past few years…All that to say, I know there’s always going to be more learning and developing to do, but I’m thankful for all of my past experiences, both good and bad because I wouldn’t be the man I am today without them. 

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
For sure, so I currently release 1-2 projects a year as an artist and play shows with my band that’s based in the Carolina area. I have 7 songs released at the moment, and most recently, I released my first 4-song EP titled “Just Gettin’ Started”. It honestly still blows me away when I get messages from people in Brazil, India, the U.K., etc. saying that they want me to come play shows there…that never gets old. To think that even one person really connects with my music, not to mention thousands, is something that definitely drives me to keep going. I believe what sets me apart from other artists is my diverse musical and entertainment background. Whether it was collaborating on hip-hop/pop tracks in middle school to singing Italian opera at the beginning of college, I feel like I’ve explored, and continue to explore, many different aspects of music and entertainment. 

Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs, or other resources you think our readers should check out?
Dang, great question. I honestly probably listen to more podcasts nowadays than music, so here are a few of my favorites: 

1. Group Chat (this is mainly how I stay up-to-date with what’s going on in the world; it’s three entrepreneurs based out of LA that talk about news, culture, business, etc. in their own entertaining way – highly recommend)

2. Earn Your Leisure (I’m also really into business and entrepreneurship, so this is where I get a good taste of that. Whether it’s their interviews with other business owners and celebrities or just the two of them covering a multitude of topics, this show is definitely worth checking out.)

3. Social Dallas Podcast (it was tough picking one, but this is one of my favorite pastors to listen to out of Dallas, TX named Robert Madu. There are so many great sermons from him, his wife, and a lot of guest pastors they bring to their Church too. There’s a recent series he did called “Can We Talk?”, that I highly recommend everybody check out; it’s so good!!)

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: https://colewalkermusic.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/colewalker/
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/colewalkermusic
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/colewalkermusic
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/colerosswalker
• SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/colewalkerofficial
• Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@colewalkermusic, Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6DO18…, iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/15…

Image Credits
Eran Davis
Courtney Long