Cori & Kelly Open Up About Writing with Citizen Way, their Sisterly Harmonies & their New Worship Album

Female duo Cori & Kelly announce that they will be releasing a new worship album "Show Me The Way." They hope to bring a new contemporary worship sound to fans along with a message of hope, promise and direction. The forthcoming record is a follow up to their 2018 self-titled LP and is set to be released on September 26, 2021. 

Cori & Kelly recorded some of "Show Me The Way" this summer at the famous Ocean Way Studios in Nashville, Tennessee with producer Brent Rader, while the rest were recorded in Rader's home studio in Mount Juliet, Tennessee. "Show Me The Way" is composed of 11 tracks that Cori & Kelly wrote over a span of 4 years which included a couple of collaborations. You can pre-order the album HERE.

We are honored to catch up with Cori & Kelly for this exclusive interview.

Q: Thanks for doing this interview with us. Let's start with yourselves, tell us a little about yourselves. How did the two of you meet?

We have both been married over 10 years and have 5 children all together. Kelly and her husband Nick have two sweet kids, Alayna (9) and Ace (4). My husband and I have three rascals, Joel (9), Noah (7) and our newest Olivia (1). 

Kelly and I met around 2010 at church when we were asked to join the praise team. I pride myself on being witty, and so when I made Kelly belly laugh at practice one evening, we both knew we'd become close friends. We both feel strongly that those first few years of building up our friendship made a solid foundation for what was to eventually become our duo. 

Q: When and what made the two of you want to form a duo?

It wasn't until 2014 when we were asked to lead worship at our church's ladies fall retreat that God revealed His intentions for us to form a Christian duo. We had both been singing for years individually but really never felt that major spark to pursue it as soloists. That beautiful fall weekend of leading worship together made it drastically clear to us both that we wanted to join talents and hearts to chase down God and give Him everything we had! 

Q: Did you set out to record Christian worship music?

Yes, immediately we knew we wanted to be in the Christian worship world, however that isn't exactly what happened. The first few years, it seemed like every song we wrote together had undertones of country. We definitely didn't write any song to fit a particular genre, but it really just made since once we put lyrics and music together. We struggled with that because we didn't want to fit into one particular genre box, but we allowed ourselves to just go down that road with our first album. But, after Hurricane Michael- Kelly's family made the tough decision to move back to her hometown while her babies were still little. It was hard the first year, and then Covid hit. So we were really struggling with how we would continue logistically. BUT GOD. We began to pour our hearts out onto paper and that's how this Chrisitan worship album developed. 

Q: With so many worship artists out there, what do you think sets your music apart?

There are so many amazing and talented artists out there! We feel that what sets us apart are our tight harmonies, and we actually get asked all the time if we are sisters because of it. We joke that individually we are so thankful we were blessed to be able to sing, but when we join those voices together....it becomes something so much more unique. We also try our darndest to be as authentic as possible, so that bleeds over in our raw lyrics. Plus, there aren't very many female duos in Contemporary Christian music, so that seems to be in our favor.

Q: On this new album, you got to write a couple of songs with Citizen Way's Ben Calhoun. How did you get to meet him? What were those writing sessions like?

Kelly is a bold risk taker, it's one of my favorite things about her! She reached out to their team one day about a writing session and said ''Cori, the worst thing they can say is no right?!" Believe it or not, Ben himself reached back out to us and we all made plans to get together in Nashville for a week and get as many songs out of him as possible! We are so thankful for him pouring into us. He wanted to pick our brains and not just take over during the writing process. He gave us a lot of great insight that we still use to this day while writing new music. We loved that experience so much!

Q: What do you think were some of the other highlights in the making of this new record?

One of the biggest and best highlights of creating this album was watching God pave the way! It was amazing! We got together one weekend early in 2021 and just asked ourselves what we wanted for Cori & Kelly that year. Because of all the lockdowns in 2020, we had very few gigs and very little money. We just said, if God wants this too, it's gonna happen. It was a giant leap of faith. But, we literally sat back and watched all these amazing things happen one after another to make this album possible. Our God is good and He is Faithful! 

Q: How do you hope these songs would speak to the lives of your listeners?

What we want above all else is for this album and these songs to bring those who hear them into the presence of our Father, that He will be glorified. At the end of the day, we're two wives, two moms, two normal people who love Jesus and we want to encourage others to step out in obedience to what God might be calling them to even if life is crazy. He will show you the way!

Q: Where can our readers go to find out more about you and perhaps even catch you live?

You can visit our website at www.CoriAndKelly.com or any of our social media sites. We are LOVING experimenting with TikTok and figuring out ways to create content long distance. Lately, we've been tag teaming live videos on our facebook page (www.facebook.com/coriandkelly) that have inspirational messages as well as concert lives. You can also subscribe to our youtube channel (www.youtube.com/coriandkelly). Lastly, you may catch our latest release on any Christian AC radio station. We appreciate all the support!

 

 

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