UC student recording album in Nashville

             Tori Wright, a junior at the University of the Cumberlands, is currently working on an album in Nashville, Tennessee.

            “I’ve been singing since I could talk,” Wright said. She started singing in church and started singing auditions at age 3, and started leading worship at church at age 15.

            When Wright was 8 months old her mother took her and her sister to a modeling audition in New York. While there, Wright’s mother met a woman named Beverly  Sage-Crocker, whose daughter is now Miss New York. The two mothers lost contact but found each other on Facebook not long ago. When Crocker learned that Wright sings, she told her about the vocal coach that her daughter goes to before her pageants.

            Wright called the vocal coach, who’s name is withheld, is also the vocal coach of Beyoncé, TobyMac, Francesca Battistelli, and many top Christian artists. She took Wright as a student without even hearing her sing. Wright started her song writing in March, and at her second meeting with her vocal coach they started talking about recording an album.

            Wright travels to Nashville on some weekends to clarify and work on songs. Recording will begin in January. So far there are seven songs chosen for the album, Wright said she hopes to have between 10 and 15 songs total.

            “My songs are all to God, not necessarily about Him,” Wright said. “Mostly worship songs. It’s all about how glorious God is.”

            The songs are written about things Wright has learned from going through hard times and about praising God through them. Quiet places are ideal for Wright when writing songs, “anywhere that’s quiet, when I can zone out and forget about everything else,” she said.

            Wright said her music has a “coffee shop, indie type of feel, a mix between Kari Jobe and Ingrid Michaelson.”

            Wright said that she could not have put any of this together on her own. “God opened all the doors. It’s kind of cool to just marvel in His awesomeness.”

            Robbie Fiefhuas, a life-long friend of Wright, said, “Tori is a very good singer, so I think she will do good. The hardest part will be her publicizing herself to the community.”

            The album will be finished in the spring and will only be available for sale at Wright’s concerts, which are not yet set. They will later be available in stores.

            “This isn’t about me. This is about the Lord and leading people in worship,” Wright said. “Worship the Lord in beauty and holiness.”