Corey Hunt and the Wise

Corey Hunt and Todd Allmon, primary songwriters for Corey Hunt and the Wise, were high school buddies; but the story of their being in a band together doesn’t follow the typical template for this kind thing. Corey didn’t pick up guitar and start writing until college, and Todd only decided to take up playing music after much time spent supporting Corey’s college band.

“I used to road-dog with them a lot, sling t-shirts for them, load gear in and out,” Todd says. “I just decided one day I wanted to be a bigger part of the band, and I started playing music…” Corey continues, “The story is much better than that…He was rolling around with us and then one day, out of nowhere, Todd was like ‘Man, I wrote a song, check this out.’ I had no idea he was learning to play guitar, could write songs or anything.” From there Todd began opening for the band, then, in another unusual twist, actually picked up bass after only pretending to play it in one of the band’s music videos.

Along with founding drummer Eric Wise, Corey (acoustic guitar, lead vocals) and Todd (bass) have been the core of this “country folk rock” band hailing from Randolph County, North Carolina. After previous members left to play elsewhere, the band now includes Jody Rising on rhythm guitar and Bear Rose on lead guitar.

The band’s upcoming album is The Storm, which is due out on May 2, 2025. Back in March, they dropped an anthemic single, “Run With The Boys Tonight,” in anticipation of the full release. The record is the first with the current lineup.

To pull the album’s material together, the band took the time to rent a space, set up all their gear, and actually play through their stuff to see what they wanted to record. Corey says, “We had maybe 20 to 25 songs we worked out and played, and then we went from that and said ‘Which of these do we like and how can we make them fit together on a record?’…”

From this starting point it’s clear to see that Corey Hunt and the Wise is focused on offering fans the most honest and real music they can muster.

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Listen to the full interview here!