Alson Cole

Alson Cole is a wonderful musician!! This article is written by his 11 year old student.

Biography
Taken from Alsoncole.com.............. I was raised in Berry, KY, the youngest of three children born to Ruth Ann and Alson Cole, Jr.

I graduated Harrison County High School in 1994. I earned a bachelor of arts degree in communications from Georgetown College in 1998, another bachelor of arts degree in elementary education from Midway College in 2004, and a masters of educational administration from Xavier University in 2006. Go Musketeers!!!

For four years, I worked as a news writer/photographer for The Cynthiana Democrat, the local newspaper in Cynthiana, KY, where I now live with my trusty dog Chester, a West Highland White Terrier.

I currently teach 4th and 5th grade (all subjects) at St. Edward School and am the music director for St. Edward Church. I also teach music to all grades at the school (pre-K through 5th), and I teach music lessons after school.

I have been performing in the central Kentucky area since I was a boy. Like many musicians, my first experiences with performing music were for church functions. Obviously, that is still an important facet of my musicianship. Singing is my first love, but a close second is playing the piano. I guess you could say that I play by ear, but I prefer to say that I play by instinct. I just kind of view myself as the medium through which the music comes. I just play whatever I feel at the moment. I love arranging music, especially church music, and I also dabble in songwriting, which I hope will increase as Bull By the Horns Publishing takes off.

And speaking of Bull By the Horns, I decided to give a name to my recording efforts and did so in honor of my family. You'll notice on the back of my In Between Wars CD that there's a pin with my family crest on my corduroy jacket. The crest has a big red bull on it, probably because all of the Coles I've known (including myself) tend to be rather stubborn and strong willed. I believe in making your own opportunities rather than waiting for someone else to come along and hand you things on a platter. My advice is never to wait for someone else to validate you. If there's something you want to accomplish, get out there, roll up your sleeves, and make it happen for yourself. That's really the mentality that got my recording efforts started.

My dear friend Joan Herndon designed the logo (as seen on my Home page) using an idea I had to feature the bull and Chester in the logo. If you know anything about terriers, you know that they are quite strong willed and self motivated. I often say that my own personality is rather terrier-like. I have to literally wear myself out or I'll just keep going and going. At the same time, I'm always sniffing around for a new idea and a new way to make it happen. So, the Bull By the Horns name is, in my mind, very fitting of this whole thing.

Besides Chester and the students in my class at St. Edward, I do not have any children of my own. However, I do have one niece (Whitney) and three nephews (Alex, Aaron, and Andrew). They are the children of my two big sisters, Becky and Allison. I love them very, very much and assure you that all of the above mentioned inspire me greatly!

I always dreamed that I would be able to record music. I realize that the music industry is incredibly competitive and elusive. There are many people who are incredibly talented who never make it for a variety of reasons. And there are many people who do make it because of luck, knowing the right people, having a lot of money, or having the right look. I doubt I could make it in that world, but luckily, technology has made it possible for me to record and produce my own albums. I will not likely ever have a large distribution, but that's okay. The main reason I wanted to do this was just to share my music with the people of my community who have said they enjoy it.

Thank you for supporting a local, independent musician!!!

Thanks specifically to my family, to my friend Joan Herndon, to everyone at St. Edward Parish (especially my friends Linda, Jon, & Stephen Furnish and my friend and sponsor Sherri Sowder), to my friend Sandy Power, to my friend Nathan Colburn, to Donald Richie of The Cynthiana Democrat for featuring me, and to Dana Doyle of Dana Doyle Photography for taking the photographs for my albums.

Albums
He has two albums out currently.They are:

Inbetween Wars

Midnight Clear

He is working on the following albums

Small Town Scars

Endangered Hymns