Kallie North didn’t begin writing music until 2010 after graduating from college and moving from her home state of Texas to the Mississippi Delta. A diehard country music fan and creative soul from birth, she picked up a guitar and within months had written a dozen songs. She recalls the feelings of inspiration that opened her eyes to the world of songwriting, and the dream that she could become a singer-songwriter. “I had played the piano since I was a kid and my whole family was musical. I had always considered myself a singer since my first solo performances at school and church, but writing my first song defined me in a whole new way. It made me an artist. I couldn’t believe that I had the ability to write songs—and didn’t even know because I had never tried.”
For Kallie, life in the Mississippi Delta was so different than anywhere she had ever called home. She had married a farmer and found herself living the rural life in the extreme. Her days spent on the farm, surrounded by cotton fields and roaring combines led to her love affair of writing songs about life on the backroads. “The land truly changed me as a person. I was infatuated with the soil I was standing on. Every corner I turned, every barn, every tractor, every dirt road and every row of cotton–well it inspired me in a way I had never been inspired before. I had always been creative through my life as a photographer and writer–but when I found songwriting–it took over my soul. It is all I could think about and all I wanted to do.”
Living in the tiny Mississippi town of Benoit, population 500, Kallie was still adjusting to life in the country. “We live thirty miles from the nearest grocery store, so I found myself in the car…a lot!” It was in those weekly car rides to and from town, surrounded by farms, tractors and gravel roads, that Kallie found the inspiration for her lyrics and melodies. “I’d be driving down Highway 1 on the way home from the grocery store and a lyric would pop in my head. I’d grab my Blackberry voice recorder and just leave it running for 15 minutes while I talked out the lyrics and played around with melodies. Most of the time I was just talking about the things I saw right in front of me. Farmers, corn fields, windows down and a backroad! Those first fifteen or twenty songs I wrote were all written in less than an hour, with a few tweaks here and there.”
Kallie began playing solo gigs in bars and restaurants in the nearby towns. After receiving praise and encouragement from friends, family and fans, she decided to follow her dreams to Nashville where she spent her time networking with anyone and everyone. “If someone told me they knew someone, I’d get their number and call them immediately. Every door that opened, I kept thanking God. And every door that closed, I kept thanking God. Eventually, the door opened for me to be a signed artist with Ride Records which allowed me to be at home in Mississippi and still pursue my dreams. I felt like it was meant to be.”
Kallie’s true talent as a singer-songwriter, combined with her business skills and work ethic, have allowed her to move forward with her career at lightning speed. Only two years after writing her first song, she now releases her debut album on Ride Records, an accomplishment she is proud of and holds dear to her heart. “I plan on working every day to be the best singer-songwriter I can possibly be. Not just by writing music, but by using my time and all of the knowledge I can acquire to build my career and fan-base.”
