If great country music is still built on a foundation of real-life stories and soul-deep family tradition, Stephen Cochran was born to the breed. With a Music Row pedigree, a soldier’s sense of purpose and a lifetime’s worth of stories, this singer/songwriter came onto the country music scene in 2007. Born in Pikeville, Kentucky and raised in the creative heart of Nashville’s songwriting and recording community, Cochran watched his Dad, known as Steve Cochran, wrestle with the machinery of Music Row as a struggling songwriter and artist back in the '70s. Country greats Bobby Bare and the late Del Reeves are just a couple of the characters that drifted in and out of the Cochran home.“That was my school, coming home and watching Dad practice and play and write,” he says. “With Dad doing his music hustle, I was raised in the business and I learned the ins and outs. I love music, and that’s what he instilled in me.”
Cochran’s life on his way to his own country music career is about as real as it gets. Following the tragic events of 9/11, with his career just getting off the ground, Cochran did an about face, joining the Marines’ elite reconnaissance division and headed straight to Iraq. He returned safely, but wasn’t so lucky on his next overseas tour – to Afghanistan. After losing a good friend to enemy fire, Cochran returned home with a broken back and a newfound determination to make his country music dream come true. He used his recovery time well, digging deep to reignite his passion for songwriting. “I love the Marine Corps,” Cochran says. “Everything they did for me structured my life and gave me the drive to know that I can do anything I want to do.”
In a town where an artist’s “story” is routinely embellished by teams of publicists, Cochran’s background is as refreshingly real as his music. His debut garnered critical raves and respectable airplay, but it only hinted at the power and the depth of Cochran's upcoming sophomore effort. With it's infectious summertime chorus and making-the-best-of-the-bad-times message, leadoff single "Wal-Mart Flowers" is generating fan excitement and lighting up radio request lines since its official April 13 release.
TNS- What brought you to music in the first place?
SC- I was brought to music by my Dad who was a songwriter in Nashville in the late 70's early 80's so it was no surprise to my family that music was my choice for career. I was playing guitar by 4 and singing on the radio by 3...its just always been in my blood. I call my music Mo Billy. I was raised in the summers by my grandparents in Detroit, Michigan and the winters I stayed in Pikeville, KY so I’m a Motown-hillbilly. And my music is a little southern rock country blues and bluegrass its just like me... confused, but loving it.
TNS- Describe your music, what's the mission behind the music?
SC- My mission in life is to make sure my brothers and sisters in the military are taken care of when they come home! I served in the United States Marine Corp and was injured in Afghanistan breaking my back in 6 places. I was told I would never walk again and yet after many surgeries and 4 lbs of cement in my l-1 to l-5, I not only walk, I run. And put on what I like to think is one of the most energetic concerts today.
TNS- What are couple of your career highlights so far?
SC- My biggest highlights are hard to say. I have had so many in the short career I have had so far. I have an amazing publicist Elaine Shock of Shock Ink. She has worked endlessly to build my career through the media and television. I played Jamboree In the Hills which to my family is the sign you had made it. This is the Woodstock of country music and is located very close to my part of Kentucky. I go back this year for my second appearance. I also got to play a show called Hoedown in Detroit this year where at 13 I watched my biggest influence, Garth Brooks, play. But two that stick out in my head the most are the past two New Years Eve shows I have been blessed to have. In 2008. I was asked by Fox to play Live from Time Square as the ball dropped. And this past year, I had the opportunity to return to Iraq and Afghanistan a place where I watched a lot of lives taken and nearly lost my own. But it was therapy for me to get to be back among the men and women who realize I have bled, sweat and cried in the same dirt they stand in today. I got to be almost like a chaplain and be there for them not as a Marine team leader with a weapon, but as someone who walked in their footsteps already. Fear of the unknown is the worst kind of fear. I hope by us getting to spend the holidays bringing them music from home made a difference to them. For some, it was the last bit of the US they will ever see again.
TNS- What kind of music are you listening to?
SC- I listen to everything...right now I’m loving the new Dave Mathews album. I think I rotate between that and Zac Browns new CD. I enjoy everything from Metallica to Queen, Zeppelin and Earl Scruggs, Ricky Skaggs...and of course anything by the Highwaymen.
TNS- What's next for you? Where do you hope to be career-wise a couple years from now?
SC- Good question on what’s next… I honestly don’t know. A lot changes in this business, but the one thing that doesn’t is that people want to make money. I hate the business involved in music. Seems sometimes the business becomes more important than the music or the person trying to make the music. I will never stop making music and I’m blessed with the best fans ever. As long as they keep supporting me, that’s all that matters. In the next couple years, I would like to get better and better at my craft and someday I would like to be bigger than Garth....is that possible?
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