Today we’d like to introduce you to Kohanna McCrary.
Hi Kohanna, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I’m an Arizona-born artist, and I grew up between Virginia and Baltimore. I started playing music at 14, and my first live performance was at Cat’s Eye Pub, a small pub in Baltimore, MD. Being a female artist has shaped a lot of how I move through this industry, from the rooms I’ve had to prove myself in to the stories I choose to tell and it’s part of why representation and ownership over my own work matter so much to me. I’ve been heavily influenced by the women in my life, including my grandmother, whose own fight for civil rights all the way to the Supreme Court taught me early on what it looks like to stand firm in who you are and what you believe, even when the odds aren’t in your favor. After high school, I moved to Nashville for a year and then moved to Colorado for three years, where I studied business and earned a degree in marketing, a foundation that’s turned out to be just as central to my career as the music itself. Upon graduating from college, I relocated to Austin, TX, which has become home base for my career. Today I’m a fully independent artist, running every part of the business: booking, touring logistics, content strategy, release planning, videography/photography, merch, digital and web, etc. Musically, I’ve released two full albums and several singles, built out full campaign launches for each, and grown from solo acoustic shows to a five-piece full band with fiddle. I’ve played venues like Stubb’s, the Fox Theatre, Lost Lake Lounge, and the Cactus Cafe, toured and shared bills with artists like Steph Strings and Tommy Newport, and picked up press features, radio spins, and editorial placements along the way. My current project, The Colorado Project, is a 17-song double album built around my years in Colorado and everything that chapter taught me. Side A released in February 2026, and Side B releases late September 2026. The title track, “Colorado,” closes with an a cappella passage I wrote as a farewell singalong for my final show at The Fox Theatre, in Boulder. It’s become the emotional anchor of the whole record. In October 2026, I’m closing out the rollout with a full-band tour through Colorado. Alongside the music, and the way that I fund my career, is by working as a marketing director for SNÖBAHN, UGC creator, and freelance wedding + concert videographer. These directly inform how I approach storytelling, branding, and audience-building as an artist. The business side and the creative side talk to each other constantly. This is how I’ve built a career from the ground up on my own terms.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The most difficult obstacle on this road has been my relationship with time. I consistently feel like I’m running out of it, like I’m growing older too quickly and might miss the window to fully build this career the way I know it deserves. Music is an expensive industry to be in independently, so it’s a constant cycle: work more to fund it, sacrifice time to make the money that buys back time for the music itself. That trade-off is a very real struggle. It means less mental capacity for the people I love, less time visiting home, watching everyone I care about get older too, all while I’m racing against a clock that feels like it’s always moving faster than I am. I’ve learned that time is the most valuable part of life, and yet it’s the thing I feel shortest on. The reality is I work a full-time job in marketing while also freelancing as a creative, and taking on whatever else I can, including dog sitting, to put money back into my music. I care deeply about everything I put out, which means I’m juggling an entire operation largely by myself: writing, recording, booking, marketing, touring logistics, band management. Things inevitably fall through the cracks, not from lack of care, but from lack of bandwidth. There’s a worry underneath all of it too: that if I don’t move fast enough, the people around me, and those i make music with, will lose faith in me. I’ve always battled anxiety and depression, and they fuel a lot of that internal pressure. But what never wavers, even on the hardest days, is my love for music and the people I get to make it with and for. My band, my collaborators, the audience that comes to listen. They’re the constant that keeps me grounded, and I’ve never once doubted that this is what I’m supposed to be doing. If anything, that anxiety has become a kind of superpower, it’s what pushes me to keep going and hold myself to a high standard. The ongoing challenge is learning to trust the pace of my own path, without letting the fear of falling behind consume the joy of building something I care so deeply about.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I write, sing, and play acoustic guitar and piano. I specialize in songwriting and storytelling. The Lumineers and Maggie Rogers have shaped my voice a lot. I love how they choose their words. The Lumineers have a very cinematic approach to their brand, and Maggie Rogers speaks to life in such an authentic way. What I’m known for is the storytelling. I speak to the stories behind the songs, so the listeners can truly understand the music. I grew up wanting to be a cinematographer, and that instinct never really left me. When I write and play, I visualize the whole scene in my head, almost like watching a movie while I perform. Outside of music, I work as a marketing director and freelance creative, and I think that bleeds into my writing too. I tend to think in scenes and images more than just lyrics. What I’m most proud of, and what sets me apart, is that it’s all connected: the songs, the visuals, the stories I tell on stage. It’s all coming from the same place. I want people to feel like they’re reliving the song and connecting with it in their own personal way.
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
Success to me is being able to do music full time, and building a true community where people connect with the music and with each other. I want to see the world with my band, and keep making music I’m proud of. I dream about getting to do this as my life and having people show up and find each other because of it.
Contact Info:
- Website: Kohanna.co | https://linktr.ee/kohanna
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kohannaa
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kohanna.mccrary.9/
- LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/kohannam
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoCo6J6hEULzJCvztYWHsdQ
