We were lucky to catch up with Corey Stone recently and have shared our conversation below.
Corey , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?
During middle school and high school i knew i wanted to play the saxophone but i never knew to what extent. Once i got to college i knew that performing professionally is what i wanted to do! After hearing other saxophonist while in wind ensemble, jazz band, and marching band, i realized all the different colors a saxophone could make and also how a crowd reacts to hearing the expressive sounds of the instrument.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is Corey Stone and I’m a saxophonist based out of Columbia, SC. I started playing saxophone my freshman year of highschool in 2008 at WJ Keenan. I got into the business of live entertainment by really just taking a chance on myself. I decided that i couldn’t just sit and waste the talent that God has given me and started making content such as covers to put on social media and from there the inquiries started flowing in. I mainly provide live entertainment (bands, sound, solo performances) for bars, restaurants, weddings, private parties, celebrations, and etc… At the moment I’m still learning my hand in music production and sound engineering to be able to provide those services in the future. I think what sets me apart from most saxophonist is the way i carry myself. I’m passionate when it comes to anything music and i try to stay cool, calm, and collected at all times and you can see that reflect in the way i perform. The one thing that I’m most proud of are the achievements that I’ve made along the way. I’ve performed on some grand stages with even grander musicians that i never thought I’d be able to perform at or with! I’ve also won the Jazz Artist of the Year 2024 by way of the Southern Plug Magazine and Award Show! I’m really appreciative of how my career has been going and I def wouldn’t have gotten this far if it weren’t for all of my supporters!
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
One lesson that i had to unlearn that i feel a lot of creatives struggle with is feeling that your friends and/or family wont support you like you want them to. Starting out all i wanted was for my friends to come out to my shows when i started performing at restaurants. When they said they would come and 8/10 wouldn’t show I’d feel unappreciated. I had to realized that my friends aren’t the audience that i need to appeal to. They already know, seen, and heard what i do a million times so of course it won’t be as appealing to them as it would be to others. That’s not to say that they truly didn’t support me cause they definitely did in other ways. That’s something i struggled with until about last year sometime and i just had to understand that people will do what they want to do and i can’t control that.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
To me the most rewarding aspect about being an artist is the feeling of joy and happiness that i see on the audience face when i perform and as well as the expression of those same feeling in the comments when someone watches content that I’ve posted. My aim and ultimate goal is to be a form of therapy by way of music when i perform. Music is truly therapeutic and if at any moment my performance can take away from what you have going on for even a second and make you feel relieved, then I’ve done my job!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/musically_stoned?igsh=eTBtN3VxbzlycW03&utm_source=qr
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/C.Stone130?mibextid=LQQJ4d
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@musicallystoned?si=H7mqkxhx1nYdY7JO
- Other: Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/corey-stone/1609669430
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5NKsq6h8RCtFkOcJTnM5GA
Image Credits
Samya Neal
Javar Juarez
RJ Belcher