Karey Lee Woolsey made a big mistake. Struggling as a touring musician and facing a mountain of bills, he took some friends up on their offer of an easy job for a big payday. The catch? He would be selling large amounts of marijuana. “I knew it was illegal but at the same time I didn’t realize how severe the penalties were for marijuana offenses.”
After being dealt the maximum sentence, Karey has served his 13-year sentence and is now a free man. Music Madness had a chance to catch up with Karey at a children’s Christmas benefit he and longtime friend Danny Sweep (Sweep Enterprises) organized.
Music Madness Magazine: What are your plans for all the music you have been writing?
Karey Lee: Well, companies like Lionsgate Entertainment and others have approached me because they loved my story. My music landed in the Billboard Magazine, which is a pristine magazine for the professionals. My album reached #4 on the Billboard charts while I was in prison. Forbes Magazine also did a 3-page article on me regarding my story. After the release of the article in Forbes, I have had major executives reaching out to me wanting music for upcoming movies and shows. It’s just a matter of time before you will hear my music being played.
Music Madness Magazine: Do you plan to play the local music scene in your hometown?
Karey Lee: Before I was imprisoned, I played the local bar scene around Southwest Florida, and to be honest it’s just not my thing anymore. I gave many years to the scene and it’s time to move on to bigger and better things. Don’t get me wrong, I will play shows for benefits and charity events, because to me it feels like I am giving back to the community. However, my main focus will be aimed towards writing and producing new music.
Music Madness Magazine: How did the charity event (Karey Lee’s Presents a Christmas Charity) come about?
Karey Lee: Actually, my good friend Danny Sweep of Sweep Enterprises came up with the idea for this charity event. It was our first Christmas out of prison; Danny was imprisoned with me, and what better way to help children by giving them all brand new bikes for Christmas. Every kid wants a new bike, so we decided to go ahead with it. As I have previously stated I wanted to do something good for the community and I felt this would be a good way to for us to give back.
Music Madness Magazine: What was the outcome of the Christmas Charity Event?
Karey Lee: Well once we put up the promotion for the event, ticket sales online went crazy. We raised over $4,000 dollars for the kids and their bikes. We purchased all our bikes from Walmart, which they discounted them for us since we were donating them. When we pulled up to Walmart to pick up the bikes, we were overwhelmed at how many bikes were there. I mean I never knew what 300+ bikes looked like all at one time. It was breathtaking, and it really felt good to give back to the community. As of today, I believe our total donated was around 350 bikes, which does not include the money made at the door for this event. The remainder of the monies earned will be sent to Bikes for Tykes for next year’s donations.
Music Madness Magazine: What are some of the feelings you experienced while in prison, and when you were released?
Karey Lee: To be honest, the whole time I was in prison I felt like such a loser, and even more so when I was released, I had no job, no money, hadn’t given to society, or even paid taxes. It was a very hard transition to make, but now I am giving back to society and it makes me feel good. I was always one who liked to contribute to others, and now I can once again.
Music Madness Magazine: I heard you mention a few times “Sweep Enterprises”, is this who you will be working with on future events?
Karey Lee: Absolutely, Danny has a big heart and is such a good person. He also loves giving back to the community. It really changes your outlook and makes you humble when you spend such a large amount of time away from your family and loved ones. And yes, from here on out all of our events will be going through “Sweep Enterprises.”
Music Madness Magazine: How did you go about recording a song while you were in prison?
Karey Lee: Your gonna love this, so I kicked back and forth the idea of how I would do a recording while in prison. I mean they don’t give inmates recording devices or anything of the sort. So what I ended up doing was…there was a chapel in the prison. The chapel had a VCR hooked up in the room, I have a little background in electronics, so I used my knowledge and added a line into the VCR and then you can record from a mixer.
I did a show for the drug community, we took the two outs from the channel and put them in the back of the VCR and we recorded the whole performance. I sent out the VCR tape in a bible to an old friend in town and had it remixed and then released it. The album I released “A Million Miles Away” made it to #4 on the Billboard charts.
My younger brother Kodey and his friends made a video for my hit “Walls Around Me”. It is a replica of what my brother thought being locked up would be about. It was really a great video portraying me in prison.
Well Thank You Karey for taking the time to talk with Music Madness Magazine about your future music plans and sharing your story with us. Looking forward to seeing what 2019 has in store for you.
Keep up to date with all the happenings of Karey Lee at http://www.kareylee.com
Interview by Jessi-Lynn Brothers and photos by Brian Kreuser