Erin Kinsey had never done a giveaway before this year. She said that she wanted to do something a little more creative than just buying something to give away. She decided to write a song for the winner to give as gift to their significant other for Valentine’s Day.
The winner was Lily Gross of Oceanside, California. Kinsey wrote a song called “Closest Thing To Heaven,” for her husband, Mike. Gross then took the song and put in to a personal video for Mike. “Having such a talented musician and songwriter like Erin Kinsey write the story of our love was exactly what our hearts needed,” said Lily Gross in a release. “In 2020, we lost an unborn baby only to be followed by COVID-19 and the resulting shutdown. Erin put into words what we could not. She perfectly captured our love story. We could not be more thankful.”
Kinsey was touched by some of the messages that she received after announcing the contest. She said someone reached out and told Kinsey that she always wanted to write a song with somebody. didn’t know who she would give it to, but had ideas. “I told her that I would definitely reach out to her afterwards,” Kinsey said. “…That’s something I didn’t expect from this experience. That was a cool thing to read, for sure,” she added.
Kinsey also had the opportunity to make her Grand Ole Opry debut recently. Kinsey said she had co-written a song called “Pink” with fellow writers Victoria Shaw and Jodi Marr. The Susan G. Komen Foundation has gotten behind the song and it was recorded by a group of female artists including Dolly Parton, Monica, Jordin Sparks, Rita Wilson and Sara Evans. When Wilson performed it on the Opry, Shaw and Kinsey came out to sing it with her. “It’s definitely the coolest thing I’ve done by far and also for it to be for such a great cause as well, it just means so much more,” she said.
While they were rehearsing for the Opry performance, Kinsey said that Wilson’s husband, Oscar-winning actor Tom Hanks, FaceTimed his wife and Kinsey got a chance to speak to the actor for a split second.
Kinsey said she is from a small town east of Dallas, Texas called Rockwall and she grew up on country music. She cites some of her influences as Brad Paisley, Eric Church and Miranda Lambert. She said her parents were pretty athletic and she tried every sport imaginable, but she either wasn’t good at them or just didn’t love them. She picked up the guitar and found that it was easier for her to play and sing when she was playing guitar than when she was playing the piano. She said she would describe her music as definitely guitar-driven music and she loves having super conversational lyrics.
Kinsey was 12 years old when she she made her first trip to Nashville, Tennessee. “After coming here and just seeing the community, the amazing talent and also just all of the ways to grow, I think that was when I finally decided that this is something I was going to pursue,” she said.
Like most singers, Kinsey has not been able to do a lot of shows over the last year. She said she does a lot of writer’s rounds as a lot of them are starting to open up again. Kinsey hasn’t released any music yet, but she hopes to do that this year.
For more information about Kinsey and her music, people can visit her website, www.erinkinsey.com. She has a YouTube channel with videos of her performing some cover songs and some of her original songs. Kinsey is active on social media and can be found on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.