July 11, 2018 at 6:12 p.m.
Making sacrifices: Maine native ready to bring her brand of country music to the fans
Making sacrifices: Maine native ready to bring her brand of country music to the fans
By Cory Dellenbach-
Sacrifices have to be made if someone wants to really succeed at what they do. Time has to be given for college, for training, and more. No one knows that better than Kalie Shorr as she prepares to hit the main stage at the Hodag Country Festival.
Shorr, a 23-year-old singer from Portland, Maine, had a normal childhood: a mom that was supportive of her, pushed music, but was still adamant about Shorr finishing high school before pursuing music.
"Looking back in the moment, I was like 'mom, I just want to move to Nashville,' and she reminded me that I was only 13 and told me to calm down," Shorr said. "I appreciate that now."
Shorr worked hard her four years of high school, saving money from the jobs she had and doubling down on classes her final year in order to graduate early to work fulltime and earn more money for a move to Nashville.
"I made so many sacrifices my senior year to get myself to Nashville," Shorr said. "All my friends would be at football games and school dances and I would be working until 11 p.m. or doing homework or looking on Craigslist for apartments in Nashville."
While she was focused on different things than a lot of her friends senior year, she said she has no regrets.
"At the time it didn't scare me or deter me or make me sad at all," Shorr said. "It was just a means to an end, this was me getting to Nashville and getting to where I belong."
THE 'WOW' MOMENT
Shorr had always loved singing as a little girl growing up in Maine, in a time when women in country music were the stars.
"I think I was 6 years old when I wrote my first song and that was in 2000," Shorr said. "The Dixie Chicks were everywhere and Faith Hill and Reba and Shania (Twain), I could just go on and on. I think I was so inspired and led by those women at a really young age that I knew pretty quickly that that's what I wanted to do."
In fact, the moment Shorr says she knew that the music industry was her path was at the young age of 9.
"I went and saw my first concert at 9 years old and saw the Dixie Chicks with Michelle Branch in New York at Madison Square Garden," Shorr said. "To this day, those are two of my biggest influences, I love those artists so much. I saw those girls on stage just owning it and playing their songs and singing their truths and I was so, so inspired by it and I really remember that moment being the "wow" moment for me."
FINDING HER MUSIC
While Shorr was a big country music fan, there weren't a lot of places around Portland where she could go out to listen and play country music, especially as a kid.
"I couldn't go out and play at the country bars," Shorr said. "When it came time for me wanting to play shows, I actually joined a rock back in middle school and we played into high school a little bit."
Her group would cover Nirvana and Pink Floyd songs, but then Shorr fell in love with pop punk and similar music, getting drawn to artists like Wheezer.
"I think you can hear a lot of that translated in my music, especially on my current project "Awake," because I kind of let those influences in more than I had historically," Shorr said. "At the end of the day it's always country and I've always wanted to sing country."
DREAM COME TRUE
One of the highlights of any country music career is getting the opportunity to perform at the Grand Ol' Opry in Nashville.
Shorr accomplished that dream in March, and still gets emotional even thinking about it.
"It was amazing," Shorr said. "My publicist called to tell me and I just immediately started sobbing. I'm such a baby about that stuff. The Opry is such holy grounds for any country artist and that's something I hoped to achieve for a very long time. I started looking for dresses. I called my mom and we both cried and she was so excited to fly in for it. The day of, it was absolutely amazing."
On the day of her performance, Shorr pulled into the Opry where a metal parking sign was hanging - as they do for all first-time performers. The sign read "Reserved for Kalie Shorr's Opry Debut on March 31, 2018." Performers get to keep the sign after they perform.
"I have that hanging up on my living room wall now," Shorr said. "From the moment you arrive on Opry property, you just feel so special and then you walk down that walkway and everyone knows you're there making your debut. It really feels like coming home even though you've never been there before. It's absolutely amazing."
FIRST TIMER AT THE HODAG
After touring with Raelynn for the better part of this year, Shorr is excited to break away from that experience for a bit and do some touring with her own band, including hitting the stage at the Hodag Country Festival.
"This is our first year playing these new songs on "Awake" with the band, so just expect big guitars and a lot of energy," Shorr said. "We also do some unexpected rock and roll covers, too, which I think some country music fans will enjoy."
Shorr was quick to note too that this is her birthday weekend - her birthday was July 11.
"I'm probably going to go kinda hard and that'll be fun," she said.
She's looking forward to seeing the many faces in the crowd and experiencing the energy at the Hodag for the first time when she hits the stage on Saturday at 1 p.m.
"Looking back now I wonder how 18-year-old me pulled that off everything at the start because I'm not sure 23-year-old me could pull that off," Shorr said. "But I'm very, very thankful that she did because now I'm here and it was all worth it."
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