‘Put your mind and heart to it and you can do anything.’ That is the proven testament of Karisa la Cour, whose thoughts, emotions and voice blend into a harmonious whole. She's been likened as the Enya of pop, an ethereal beat ever present at the heart of her music. Her background in rural Wyoming, home schooled and free running, gave her a boost over the wall of a world too often bricked with nay-sayers and concreted with the rigid set of a popular norm.

"Anybody can do anything they want to do. What stops people from doing what they want is themselves, it’s the fear of failure. If you want to be successful at something, put your all in to it. Find something you like to do. I think you can achieve anything with hard work and persistence," Karissa says with feeling. As one who was originally a student of medicine, she knows what it is she's saying. "I wanted to be a general physician, but I went from going to medical school to doing music. My family wasn’t very happy about it, they were a little cautious about it at first, but, hey, are totally into it now; they are my backbone of support."

"I had a really good childhood; it was a lot of fun. I grew up on a farm. I always had to get up really early, had lots of farm chores, working outside most the time. I enjoyed home school, half the day you could do school, and then the rest of the day you could go outside and play. I grew up pretty secluded for a while, though my mom played piano, and she got me interested in church choir." she recalls fondly. "I was home schooled until junior high, then I started going to public school. I went to a Tom Petty concert when I was 18 years old and I remember thinking that I’d love to be able to write and sing and share that with other people. I had a bunch of friends that really encouraged me to push through it. My choir teacher in high school, though, did not like the way I sang, but I can be pretty stubborn. She tried to push me into more of an operatic voice or more like Broadway that made me want to be like, 'Oh, yeah, watch this.'"

Steadfast in her convictions, and knowing what she wanted, Karissa set out to achieve these goals. "LA seemed kind of wrong for a small town girl and New York just wasn’t my scene. Nashville seemed like the perfect area for me. People here say it’s half town, half city. It was easier for me to adjust to and there is starting to be more of a pop scene here, too. I used to think I played pretty good, when I was in Wyoming, but when I came to Nashville, I don’t play as good as I thought I did,” she admits with a laugh. "There are some very talented musicians out here. I also wasn’t used to singing in a studio. It’s not like being onstage, and it’s a lot more precise and articulate. It was something I had to learn how to do, but I love doing it now. Performing live you can feel more relaxed. In the studio, you have to be a lot more aware of what you are doing. Both on stage and in the studio, you need to make sure you get in the moment and that you are really feeling whatever emotion you are trying to portray in that particular song."

It's a symbiotic relationship that has grown up between Karissa and her music, each one needing the other, and together they grow stronger.. What might they become in the years to follow is certainly something to keep an ear out for.

"Music makes me happy. It's the thing I look forward to during the day. Any time I have a minute to spare, I’m writing and singing. Music is the universal language, something everybody can understand and relate to. It is an amazing way to express yourself." she exudes. "I write from everyday experiences. It is an outlet for me. I like to write about friendships and people interacting with each other. I hope my music can touch people’s lives. It’s great to create something and see how it affects people around you. I hope that my music can put a smile on people’s faces."