Cornell to perform at Mulkey Sept. 5

Clarendon native Zach Cornell is carving out his place in the music business and is ready to entertain folks in his hometown this weekend.

Cornell will be performing at the Mulkey Theatre this Sunday, September 5, at 6 p.m. and is looking forward to playing a venue he’s only heard about growing up.

“I never thought there would be a place like that to perform in Clarendon,” he said.

Cornell said his father, Bill Cornell, used to tell him about going to the movies at the Mulkey when he grew up, but the singer only ever saw it closed during his lifetime.

“I knew they were working on it and had opened it,” he said. “I just think it’s a cool thing for folks like me who have just seen it shut down before. I can’t wait to see inside.”

Just like the Mulkey found new life in recent years, Cornell himself has found a new calling as a singer/songwriter – a far cry from what he thought his career path would be after graduating Clarendon High School in 2014.

He started playing guitar when he was 12 or 13, he said.

“My sister had a guitar but wouldn’t let me touch it, and that just made me want to play it more,” Cornell said.

In high school, he played with the youth group at the First Baptist Church on Wednesday nights and took two or three lessons with Billy Boone, who was the youth leader at the First United Methodist Church at the time.
But it wasn’t until he went to college that Cornell really began to get serious about music and spend a lot more time practicing.

Studying marketing at Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Cornell said he would spend his free time in his dorm room practicing his playing and songwriting, encouraged by a few friends who shared a love for the same kind of music.

“I always enjoyed playing and singing, but I never thought I could make a career of it, until some friends got me to try some open mic nights and then book some gigs,” he said.

After graduating college in 2018, he took his marketing degree and entered the workforce.

“I got a sales job and made it two weeks,” he said, “and then I went back to singing.”

Cornell prefers traditional country music with a blend of what he calls Americana songs that cross genres, taking inspiration from storytellers like Tom T. Hall and Jim Croce. Hall, who died last week, had a particularly strong influence on the young artist.

“He told a story like nobody else,” Cornell said. “Funny or serious – he could do it like he was talking to you like you’re right in the room. He had a level of songwriting that people like me will spend their whole life trying to get to.”

After he married, his wife Liberty encouraged him to move to Nashville to pursue his passion.

“She said, ‘I’m a nurse; I can work anywhere,” Cornell remembers. “So we moved to Nashville right before COVID hit.”

The music business is hard, Cornell said, but Nashville has been good to his family. He’s gotten to work with Jack Gavin, a former drummer for Charlie Daniels’ band, who has served as a mentor to him.

It’s a great time to be an independent artist in the music business, Cornell said.

“No body is telling you what you can say or what songs you have to sing, and you don’t have to say everything in three minutes,” he said.

He recorded his first studio-produced album, “Devil’s Been Working,” in January 2020, but the pandemic delayed its release until November. The music on the album is all written either by Cornell or he and his wife together, and he says it’s been well received and opened a lot of doors for him.

“It’s gotten me into a lot of places and really shows the sound we’re going for,” he said. “It’s a good foundation to go off of.”

“Devil’s Been Working” is available on Apple Music and “anywhere you can stream music really,” Cornell said.
Cornell said he now plays gigs in Nashville five days a week and then does road trips about once a month. This week he’s performing in Shreveport, Louisiana, on Thursday before coming to Texas where he will play The Woodlands on Friday and Fort Worth on Saturday before coming home Sunday.

“I’m just excited to come home and pick a little bit,” Cornell said.

Tickets for Sunday evening’s performance are $10 each and can be purchased at the door or in advance at MulkeyTheatre.com. The acoustic concert will be BYOB (no glass containers), and concessions will be available.