Cody Pursifull @ The Mission
Doors@4pm/SHOW@8pm/NoCover – Tips kindly appreciated!
“I grew up around music watching my Grandpa play Country & Western to his fans. Watching Hee-Haw and The Grand Ole Opry every night with that same great man added to my inspiration to pursue my passion for music. Once I hit the age of 5 my grandpa started showing me chords on the acoustic guitar which lead to starting guitar lessons with a Missouri Folk Music Legend Lee Ruth at Crazy Music in Columbia, Missouri. Lee showed me how to put the chords together to form a song and introduced me to Traditional Folk and Bluegrass tunes. I continued lessons with Lee for about 8 years until I discovered the band Free and Jimi Hendrix. These artists steered me towards my love of the Les Paul and the Stratocaster sending me in a different musical direction. As the years went on I have been continuously influenced by bands such as The Allman Brothers, The Band of Gypsies, The Grateful Dead, and Cream. Because of these influences I became partial to what is known as “The Southern Sound” or “Southern Rock”. It was that exact sound that paved the road ahead of me in my music career. Although “The Southern Sound” is my first love, I still yearned for something more. This yearning sparked my journey with Solo Acoustic performances playing Old Gospel and traditional folk tunes. In 2010 my mother moved to New York City and I would soon follow her to experience the Big Apple myself. After living in New York City a year and a half I never really found a place I felt musically comfortable with. After the Towers fell on 9/11 I knew at that moment it was time go back home to Missouri where my heart truly lies. Once back in the Show Me State I started to immerse myself into the music scene of Columbia, Missouri. I religiously attended the local Blues Jams and eventually befriended Ted & Shelly Tyson. The Tyson’s had a Chicago style Blues band called Serious Blues Band and they quickly invited me to become a member. We played our hearts out for 5 years before that yearning for something more started to overcome me and I made the decision to try my hand at forming my own band. I established The Highwater Band in 2014 with fellow bandmates Don Atchley and The Jolly Brother’s bassist Tim Shields. The excitement of my electric band needed some balance, so I decided to go back that old Folk, Country, and Bluegrass music learning as many songs as I could to continue down the path of my solo acoustic career. Musical inspirations such as Jerry Garcia, Kevin Welch, and Bob Dylan added to my influence. After 3 years with The Highwater Band we parted ways in the Summer of 2017. Parting ways was a bitter sweet moment, but it encouraged me to really find my place and allowed me more time to focus my energy on acoustic endeavors. I started writing my own songs with the first hit being a tune called “End Of The Line”. I pulled my inspiration from my moments living in New York City during 9/11 and the following year I wrote “Graveyard Showdown” building on those same experiences. I wanted to pay tribute to that same great man to started the whole thing and composed “His Guitar”. Music is more than just notes on a paper and words on a sheet, its about the looks on fans faces after hearing my tunes which for me is priceless.” – Cody Pursifull
