people that serve at our church are professional musicians in their field . I think they ’ re just used to those criteria and expectations . Obviously , that ’ s not the case for most churches in the world . You know , most churches , the worship team is kind of a mix of someone who is a hobbyist , that plays on Sundays . It ’ s very rare that you have a worship team that ’ s mostly what they do outside of church is play music . We ’ re kind of fortunate in that . They don ’ t have to rely on chord charts or extra time with rehearsals . They just kind of know what they ’ re doing when they get there .
[ WM ] Is that where your relationships grew with Cody Carnes and Kari Jobe ? I know you tour with them sometimes and they also lead worship at your church .
[ Cory ] Yes it is , I met Kari and Cody at The Belonging Co probably in 2016 or something . I remember when Cody first moved from Texas , I was a big fan of him . I loved his music . He was putting out different original content at the time . I was always a big fan of just him as a person , how he carried himself and the songs he was writing . Regarding playing with them , it was never something that I reached out to do or showed a huge interest in . I was pretty busy with other work , and they had a band at the time . It was just the timing of things .
I think 2020 was a big reset in the music industry . Right ? And up until then I was mostly doing country music on the road . But country shut down pretty hard and took a bit longer to bounce back . But the worship department , they were more active because I think they ’ re just more tech savvy . They were figuring out ways to do remote sessions and things . All through that period . And so because I was kind of freed up and had no work lined up , I was able to say ‘ yes ’ to certain calls in that industry when they started coming in . I don ’ t know , the timing just kind of worked out . And so , Cody was gracious enough to ask me to come do his live records .
Then I ’ ve just been traveling with him and Kari on and off over the last year or so doing different events , dates , and church conferences . But a lot of the things I ’ m doing now , I feel like is mostly because of people I know through church . I travel with Hope Darst and she ’ s a worship leader . She ’ s been serving and leading at The Belonging Co since they started back in the basement . So yeah , it ’ s been awesome .
[ WM ] Right on . Well let ’ s switch and talk about your gear , what you ’ re using these days ? First , what kind of guitars have you got ? And then we ’ ll go to your amps . Let ’ s talk about electrics first .
[ Cory ] Electrics . Growing up I had my Paul Reed Smith that was my main guitar for many years . Then I added this Fender Custom Shop , with No ’ caster pickups . My buddy Jonathan was one of my guitar teachers down in Florida . He put this together himself . He bought all the parts and he ’ s one of those really creative and old school guys so he baked this in his oven . I
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