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NYCS Swag Spotlight: Carolyn Miller

Carolyn Miller

Born and raised on Long Island, New York, Carolyn Miller is our next Swag Spotlight.  Just like Tommy Cole and Lauren Davidson, Miller is pursuing a career in country music by growing her fanbase up north and taking frequent trips down to Nashville for meetings and songwriting sessions.  She tells us in a recent phone interview that like most performers, she was performing before she even knew it.  “When I was 2 in church if my parents blinked I would run up onto the altar, as I  got older they just realized it was I just loved to perform and be in front of people,” she laughs.

Besides not having the typical ‘growing up on a farm’ experience, Miller also went a different route during her early years, acting for television and Broadway. Starting with local community theater when she was merely six years old, and being signed to a top children’s talent manager when she was eight, Miller has worked professionally since then, working on a national commercial with Rosie O’Donnell, voiceover work for Jenifer Lopez’s perfume, landed a role in Daredevil with Ben Affleck and guest starred in Law and Order SVU.  All of this before she exited her teen years, Miller was accepted to the Boston Conservatory at Berklee College on scholarship.  After graduating college she was inspired by some friends who were posting cover videos on YouTube. She gathered some friends, Mikel James and David Wong and they recorded their own version of A Great Big World’s “Say Something”. Within 48 hours the video garnered over thirty thousand views, reaching now almost a hundred thousand views.

The exposure from the YouTube cover lit a fire under her to start exploring the recording artist side of her passion, something she had never really thought about before.  Although she grew up on Long Island, which did not have a country radio station for almost 20 years, she recalls seeing Carrie Underwood win American Idol and being hooked.  “the reason why I connect with it so much is country music is so real, honest, authentic, it tells a story, it’s vulnerable and it has something to say and there is always a purpose,” she explains.  “Coming from my acting background I love authentic stories and I love really getting up and singing I don’t want beats and autotune, country is just that real beautiful pure genre of music.”

After a chance meeting with Russ DeSalvo who has produced Celine Dion and Lionel Richie, Miller started working with him on her debut EP which will be out this summer. The EP features five songs that songwriters in Nashville, LA, and NY wrote, songs that she felt spoke to her.  She looks forward to honing her songwriting craft and performing songs in her live shows and for future albums that she has written herself.

Her background in performing and acting has given her the foundation in this industry to move at a much faster pace than someone just starting out. “I learned discipline, dedication and work ethic from the time I was 8 years old. I understand how it works, I’ve been exposed to it all from a young age,” she tells us. “Everything I’ve been through just proves to me that I know I am ready for this and I know this is what I am meant to be doing and the ups and downs of the industry are expected.”
Miller considers herself pop-country crossover, very New York City meets Nashville and is excited to release her debut EP, Unbreakable later this year.  While in NY she has performed at shows all around town, including the Country Christmas Showdown, was a Nash Next Finalist and is booking opening slots with bigger acts for the remainder of this year. “You have to live and eat and breathe and sleep your craft and feel it in your blood and DNA that there is no other option,” she thoughtfully exclaims.  “If that this is your happiness then you just know that this is what you are meant to do.”
Follow Carolyn Miller on her social media platforms, Facebook,  and Instagram, for announcements on upcoming shows and releases.

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Thanks for supporting Country Music in NYC!

Click Here to learn more about NYCountry Swag
+ Follow our Country Music Adventures on Instagram, @NYCOUNTRYSWAG!

– Team NYCountry Swag

Tommy Cole

Swag Spotlight: Tommy Cole

Tommy Cole

Our next Swag Spotlight is focused on highlighting another local New York country artist, Tommy Cole.  Born and raised in Northeast Ohio, Cole explains in a recent interview that his town was a blue-collar, steel town, and although it wasn’t the nicest place in the world, it was a great place to call home.  Growing up with a vast array of musical influences, Cole listened to everything from Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, to Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood, to 70’s rock music.  He recalls playing his very first cassette tape, which just happened to be Trisha Yearwood’s, “She’s In Love With the Boy,” and spending endless hours watching Garth Brooks VHS tapes.

When making his decision to play baseball or pursue a music career through theatre he laughs and explains, “I was an 18-year-old boy who wanted to have fun and chase girls, so of course, I decided to go play baseball.”  While playing catcher for the team, fate stepped in when Cole discovered his friend and the team’s pitcher also played the guitar.  The two quickly formed a duo, playing local gigs and bars around their college town.  Eventually, they recorded an EP, Southern Boulevard and spent the summers through school on the road.

After graduating college, Cole took the leap to move to Nashville, ready to pursue his singing career once and for all. He recorded his first solo artist EP, My Kinda Crowd and spent three years on the road up and down the east coast.

Something happened when he moved to that magical town, he realized that although he loved singing, he found a passion for learning the craft of songwriting. “I moved down there to be a singer, it was all I knew, I didn’t know how to play guitar, I didn’t know how to write a song really, I wrote some, but they were awful,” he explained  “I played out on the town on Broadway for the first two years, did nothing but play 8-12 hour sets and I had a guy come up to me and tell me I was really good, but I had to start writing songs.”

He also learned that being a great singer doesn’t always mean being the loudest or the biggest voice. “I wanted to belt and be as loud as I could be, but the real proof that you are good is not blowing it up, but being able to be real quiet in a song and have everyone hang on every word,”  he tells us, referencing some of his now favorite influences, Sean McConnell, Charlie Worsham, and David Nail.

 

Back in July of last year, Cole followed his heart to New York City and ended up falling in love with the city itself. “I’m a Northern boy at heart, I can’t help that,” he tells us “They won’t sugarcoat anything for you, they will tell you how it is and I love that.  As much as I fell in love and that’s how I ended up here, I really did fall in love with this town.”  He appreciates that the New York/New Jersey country scene is a tight-knit group of musicians and artists all working together as well as separately to achieve one common goal.
Country CHristmas
He continues to play shows on the east coast and is working now to put out new music that he has been working on and writing since his move to New York. He frequently collaborates with another one of our Swag Spotlights: Lauren Davidson.  “Just enjoy what you are doing, enjoy putting out music and people liking your music and then go from there, because especially having so many people pursuing this dream it’s not easy,” he concludes with.  Fans can follow along with Tommy Cole on his social media platforms including Instagram,  Twitter, and Facebook. 

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Thanks for supporting Country Music in NYC!

Click Here to learn more about NYCountry Swag
+ Follow our Country Music Adventures on Instagram, @NYCOUNTRYSWAG!

– Team NYCountry Swag

Country Christmas Showdown

Country Christmas Showdown Featuring NY/NJ Local Artists

Country Christmas Showdown

Some of New York and New Jersey’s greatest local country artists came together last night at Maxwell’s Tavern for Country Christmas Showdown. Radio personality Matt Burrill of Magic 98.3 hosted the event introducing each of the artists before their set.

Country Christmas Showdown

The lineup included an acoustic, songwriter round featuring Tommy Cole, Ben O’Connor and Keith Eric with Fred Fencke.  Each of the men took turns telling stories about their original songs and playing them for the packed crowd of fans.

Country Christmas Showdown

Next up was Carolyn Miller, October Rose and Jessica Rose who each took the stage separately to spread Christmas cheer and showcase their newest original songs.

Country Christmas

 

Headliners Spinn and Lauren Davidson kept the party going then Tommy Cole joined Davidson on stage for the crowd pleaser “Baby It’s Cold Outside”.

Country CHristmas

Closing out the night all of the performers came together to perform “Christmas (Baby Come Home)”.  The group of performers are truly a group of friends who support each other and came together to celebrate the holidays in the best way.

Country Christmas

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Thanks for supporting Country Music in NYC!

Click Here to learn more about NYCountry Swag
+ Follow our Country Music Adventures on Instagram, @NYCOUNTRYSWAG!

– Team NYCountry Swag