Shelley teen returns from Nashville music camp with reinvigorated interest, life-changing opportunity
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SHELLEY — An 18-year-old Shelley High School senior who recently attended a songwriting camp in the Songwriting Capital of the World has returned with a heightened love for his craft and a unique opportunity.
Cole Fryar said he learned a new set of skills while at the Song House music camp. Skills that he will be able to exercise on regular trips back to Nashville as he prepares for a full-time move to Music City next spring.
“I’m, actually, working with (Song House) now,” Fryar told EastIdahoNews.com. “I’ll be going out there every month, month-and-a-half. Then, after — right now, the plan is, moving out to Nashville after high school. It’s crazy. It’s insane.”
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Fryar called his time in Nashville, at the Song House, “awesome” and an “amazing experience.”
His application to attend the camp was accepted earlier this year, and he joined a group of 13 aspiring songwriters — including himself — in working hand-in-hand with professional music producers.
Asked what single lesson he took away from the camp, Fryar struggled to pick just one. But what he landed on was the ability and willingness to co-write music with others.
He said the writing sessions during the 10-day camp would consist of two or three writers and one producer coming together and bouncing ideas off each other.
“Pretty much what would happen is you’d say, ‘OK, I had this experience’ or, ‘This is something I’ve been wanting to write about and I haven’t been able to.’ Then (the other people in the session with you) would, kind of, pull it out of you and you’D all put in lyrics together,” he said. “It’s hard to write (music) by myself now, because of the experiences I had co-writing (at the camp).”
Fryar began playing music as a child, when his mother taught him to play the piano. Now, he plays numerous instruments and sings the songs he writes — which he began doing as a form of therapy.
“It’s a way for me to convey how I’m feeling,” he said about writing music. “I’ve tried therapy before and it didn’t work out that well. But when I write, that’s my therapy. … It conveys what I want to say in a way that I haven’t been able to find anywhere else.”
While at the camp, fine-tuning his writing skills, Fryar said he found an even deeper love for that skill. He said he even had thoughts of ditching the performing end of it to focus strictly on the creation process. But then he would sing one of his songs and realize he could never give that up.
“I’ll always perform, and be my own singer-songwriter. I think I just have more to give now — I can go into co-writes now, and help people write their songs,” he said. “Writing for other people, if I could only do that then that would be a great job — I’d be so happy with that.”
While at the Song House camp, Fryar recorded a music video for one of the songs he wrote. That video, he said, will be released on the Song House socials — Instagram, TikTok and YouTube.
“If it gets enough views — if it goes viral — they will produce that (song) with me and release it,” Fryar said.
This Friday, eastern Idahoans will have the ability to enjoy Fryar’s music live, as he performs at The Heart Events Center in Idaho Falls, located at 1501 Northgate Mile.
The show begins at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available online — for $10 — or at the door — for $12. Tickets can be purchased online — here.
You can listen to Fryar’s music, which he describes as “chill pop,” on Spotify — here — or on his TikTok — here.