Kara Cole

City Winery Nashville Presents Kara Cole on September 16th at 7:00pm.

Triumphs and tribulations come in many forms, and for Americana singer-songwriter Kara Cole, this form was overcoming the genetically inherent battle of drug and alcohol addiction, to which she’s been sober now nearly seven years.

What’s also inherent in Cole is her ceaseless passion and love for writing songs, which was the remedy she needed to power through the difficult times in her life. Expressing her deep vulnerabilities with a profound musical ability to match, she hopes to be a beacon to anybody and everybody who may be struggling with something.

The Indianapolis-based artist grew up in a family with a grandpa who would have country music and bluegrass hootenannies on the weekends with an uncle who was a master guitarist, instilling in her at a young age her love and admiration of music. And not just that, but she is also a distant cousin of the late great Ralph Stanley, as her grandpa’s surname on her mom’s side was Stanley.

As Cole came of age, she would start writing her own songs around age 15 when she got an acoustic Ibanez guitar for Christmas one year. Around 20 or 21 she began hitting open mics and developing her chops, which didn’t come easy. “I was scared to death,” she says. “And I feel the exact same way today taking the stage as I did that first time. My legs shake, hands shake, I am petrified. It’s a feeling that never goes away, but at the same time, it’s so wonderful.”