Bio
When Cory Bishop was twelve years old and trying to write songs for the first time, his dad handed him a slip of paper with two-bullet points. Cory kept the paper pinned on the bulletin board above his desk for years, and over the years, it etched itself into the stone walls of his mind. The first of the two bullet points was the first verse from Bob Dylan’s “Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues”; a carefully cadenced verse overflowing with metaphors, geographical references, and culturally-laden imagery. The second bullet point on this slip of paper was a quote that his dad attributed to Dylan, or at least Cory’s memory does: “Treat every line of the song as if it were the first line of the song.” Still, a decade later, Cory seeks to incorporate poignant imagery—that attempts to awaken all five of the listener’s senses—into every line of his songs.
Cory moved to Atlanta last year with a broken heart, dragging himself through a graduate program in theology at Emory University. He pushed away from his studies in school to instead write music at a more rapid pace than ever before.
“I was less of a student to my professors than I was to my proverbial songwriting ancestors,” Cory explains. “ Dylan was my professor of imagery, rhyme, and rhythm. Josh Ritter taught me narrative arc and the heart of storytelling. I learned how to explore the power of melody from Ryan Adams. Hank Williams made me realize that you can do a lot with just three chords. The more time I spent with these professors, exploring the deep depths of myself through songwriting, the more I realized that I needed to step away from school.”
Cory took a leave of absence from Emory to focus more on learning from these mentors and channeling them; to focus more on doing what he loves doing more than anything else: turning words into pictures. Thinking of that worn out scrap of paper from so many years ago, Cory realizes that, “With words as my sacrifice and melody as the altar, I seek to treat every line of every song as if it were the first.”
Cory Bishop has released 4 previous albums under varying monikers. He released the EP “Vinegar and Wine” February 29, 2012 and his LP Southern Pines is being released April 18, 2012. He is touring spring and summer 2012 playing both old and new for fans everywhere.
