Meet Cory Hungerford | Tuba/Sousaphone player & leader of Blurred Lines Brass

We had the good fortune of connecting with Cory Hungerford and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Cory, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
As a musician, specifically a tuba & sousaphone player, opportunities for performance can be a little scarce as we typically operate as a one-of-one in groups outside of larger, traditional concert bands. While I respect and appreciate classical music, it doesn’t really appeal to me as much as it once did. So, I decided to sidestep the more traditional route and dove into more commercial music. My goal is to play the music I enjoy while bringing a high quality and unique product that offers a memorable experience.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
My group Blurred Lines Brass, started as a New Orleans style brass band but I added a guitar, piano, and dedicated singer. With this instrumentation and caliber of musicians I get the privilege of playing with, this group transcends being typecast into a specific genre as we can perform almost anything as well as set up into a few different configurations. Right now, we’re focusing on doing unique covers of popular music while starting to introduce new original music.

The germ of this group started back during my career in the Marine Corps. In 2012, I was stationed out in Naples, Italy and was put in charge of a 6 person brass band that routinely deployed down to countries in Africa and across Europe. With this group, we performed countries’ national anthems, instrumental brass band tunes, and covers from artists like Dr. Dre, Jay-Z, John Legend, and others. We also provided jazz combo background music for diplomatic functions. The instrumentation was a drum set, sousaphone, 2 trumpets, tenor sax, and a trombone. Some of the front line horns sang or rapped as well. I was blown away with the versatility and flexibility. Moving forward in time to 2018 to my last duty station, the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing Band located in San Diego, California, the stars aligned for me to put together the exact group I wanted. We did several tours and performances across the US and after seeing the positive reaction to the group, I knew it had legs.

For me getting forward momentum certainly hasn’t been easy and definitely included a massive detour. I was settling in to a decent routine of private teaching and free lancing out in San Diego but I wasn’t happy. I wasn’t getting the opportunity to play the type of music or gigs I wanted to and it was really weighing on me. I attempted to get a group going and it failed miserably. Everyone was just too busy to make it happen. After some researching, spending some time out here in DFW, and consulting with a good friend, I made the decision to uproot and move. My first year here was spent in the same routine of teaching while I was working on building my new network. So far, 2025 has been considerably better with steady growth and oppurtunities. As with any artistic endeavor it has taken a lot of willpower to keep moving forward. There are always a lot of closed doors (at first) that have to be navigated before finding the opening needed.

I’m excited to see everywhere Blurred Lines Brass will take me in the future!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My wife Kelly has been incredibly supportive in this endeavor and has been a rock for me when uncertainty creeps in. She may also be the most patient woman in the world. She has helped keep me going and I love her till the end of time.

My good friend Ken Ebo has been instrumental in helping me get my group Blurred Lines Brass rolling. I quite literally could not have done this without him.

Website: https://blurredlinesbrass.com/

Instagram: blurred_lines_brass_band

Facebook: Blurred Lines Brass

Image Credits
Coco McKown