All great music duos have one thing in common — chemistry. The earlier they discover this chemistry, the sooner they start creating great music. Local duo Steven Vee and Kori Free took care of that problem several years ago. Kori was just 7 years old when they started playing music together.
Their story starts with a TV show.
Kori Free was watching an episode on Country Music Television called “CMT: Crossroads.” The premise of the show is to match a country artist with a rock artist that inspired them at an early age. The episode that got Kori’s attention was Wynonna Judd performing with the rock band Heart.
Kori, now a 12-year-old sixth grader at Oak Run Middle School, said, “I hadn’t really thought about playing the guitar until I saw Ann and Nancy Wilson on ‘CMT Crossroads’ with Wynonna Judd. I just loved the way Ms. Nancy played guitar and the things she did were so cool, I really wanted to see if I could play that.” Kori asked for a guitar for her seventh birthday.
“We got lucky when we decided to get her a guitar,” said her mother, Rita. “Some friends of ours had signed their kids up for lessons at New Braunfels Music and Steven was the teacher. When we took Kori down to see about guitar lessons, it was decided it would be on a trial basis due to Kori’s age.
“Steven had never had a 7-year-old student before and wanted to be sure Kori was going to take the lessons seriously.”
While the focus of the story often centers on Kori’s age, it was Steven’s realization of her talent and his desire to help her improve that marks the true beginning of their story.
“(Other students) just wanted to learn a hot Metallica riff,” Steven Vee said. “But with Kori, it was very different. I would give her things to do before our next lesson and she would actually do them. The challenge with teaching young children to play a musical instrument is to keep them motivated. Kori was motivated from the beginning.”
Kori’s natural ability surfaced quickly.
“Once I learned to read music, things just started falling in place,” Free said.
To validate his hunch, Steven had other guitarists watch Kori play and they agreed — this young girl had a natural talent.
As her skills progressed, Steven coaxed her to try her hand at songwriting. He also started inviting her to sit in with him on a few songs at his solo gigs around town.
Kori felt comfortable playing in front of a live audience.
“Playing guitar in your living room is very different than playing in front of an audience,“ Vee said.
In her short, four-year musical career, Kori has already been “discovered.”
Kori met her idol, Nancy Wilson, the guitarist for the rock band Heart. Since that meeting, a special friendship has developed between the two musicians. Nancy has been a very positive influence on Kori and even though Heart is in the studio recording a new album, she took the time to send in her thoughts on Kori.
“When I was a junior rocker with a special gift for guitar playing, my friends and family gave me the nickname ‘Whizz Fingers.’ Now there is a ‘Whizz Jr.’ in the world and her name is Kori Free. She is a whiz as a singer-songwriter as well. Watch out for the real thing, world, ‘cause Kori is coming,” Wilson wrote.
Steven has noticed that as Kori gets older, (she’s 12 now), her confidence continues to grow as her skills progress.
Vee and Free have found a common ground incorporating Steven’s jazz background with Kori’s natural ability to play a more traditional blues style. They recently recorded a CD together featuring songs written both individually and together.
Titled “Free & Vee – Gig Pants,” the album is available at all their shows and on their Web site, myspace.com/freeandvee.
The duo will play Halloween night at Billy’s Ice House and at Water to Wine in downtown New Braunfels on Nov. 7 and Nov. 21.
