Trinitee Stokes: From Mississippi's Soil, the Future of Music Emerges

The Musician, Writer, former Disney Kid Talks Country Music, Cultivating Creativity and what She Would “Gift” Jackson from L.A.

Trinitee Stokes uses creativity as a form of exercise and practices like an athlete.  Her latest single, "Write You Off," is a testament to her approach. Image credit: Bobby Quillard 

Trinitee Stokes, the jetsetter from Jackson, Miss., is nurtured by her roots in the city and energized by the history of the birthplace of America’s music. The music of America that emerged from Jackson, Mississippi, bears fruit to this day. Blues, soul, gospel from Jackson has propagated American music with spirit, flair, passion, pain, vulnerability, joy, grief, celebration, truth and possibility to grow into what would become soul, R&B, rock ‘n’ roll, funk, hip-hop, and pop.  

Her message to parents and anyone rearing or mentoring young people with a creative spark.

So it’s no surprise someone like Stokes would grow from that soil.  Her latest single, "Write You Off," is a testament to her approach to creativity. Right before the 2024 holiday break in Nashville, Tenn., Stokes penned the song after a few sessions with collaborators in just 90 minutes. Though originally written for someone else, it was destined to be hers. Stokes’ creativity flows, unforced and unrehearsed. The performer describes her music as a bridge from the intimacy of her music to listeners processing their own emotions and feelings, like a big, warm hug from your country cousins.  

Though Stokes is a genre-bending creative — an actress, musician, writer, and self-described “PowerPoint kid,” best known to some for her role as Judy Cooper in the Disney Channel television series K.C. Undercover — it’s country music that’s captured her heart for now.  

 The bond was forged through her father, whose own love for country music was passed down by his father, a Mississippi cowboy. That love has endured. These days, Trinitee and her dad trade playlists every Friday, rating tracks like two critics in a Southern version of “Still Processing,” the beloved podcast by Jenna Wortham and Wesley Morris. Music, for them, isn’t just melody — it’s memory, intimacy and a sacred act of connection.   

Trinitee Stokes’ travels have led her to new places and shaped her guiding principles. Image credit: Bobby Quillard 

Stokes’ story illustrates a beautiful truth : being different isn’t wrong! From a young age, she embarked on adventures that were more than mere vacations. Picking up what she calls “verbal souvenirs,” each destination was an opportunity to absorb diverse cultures and embrace new perspectives. Her travels taught her invaluable lessons that have become her guiding principles: empathy, adaptability and curiosity. These experiences laid the foundation for a profound understanding of herself and the world around her. Stokes values traveling so much after about six months of being still, she’s ready for the next trip … prepared to learn, experience and capture inspiration for her future creative expressions. 

The most recent of her passport stamps came when she and her mother, both graduates in the same season (daughter: undergrad political communication/public diplomacy; mother: a Ph.D.) proudly celebrated with a two-week European cruise. This adventure wasn’t just a getaway; it was a rite of passage for two generations of Black women. Together, they crossed borders and savored the freedom travel often offers and serves as a reminder that every journey shapes who we are. 

That openness, that wide-angle lens on the world, shaped how Stokes moves through it. She uses creativity as a form of exercise and practices like an athlete, engaging in activities such as poetry, journaling, gardening, pottery painting and knitting.  

The heart of her ethos, the center of her creative and personal mission, is summed up in a four-word mantra that’s more like a crusade: Let. Them. Try. It. This is her message of radical self-acceptance, a call to embrace one's individuality and creativity without fear or hesitation.   

"Let. Them. Try. It." -Trinitee Stokes

That mantra is also her message to parents and anyone rearing or mentoring young people with a creative spark. “Let them try it,” she says plainly, boldly. Let them make a mess, make a beat, make a film. Let them mix country and soul and sci-fi and scripture. Let them be weird. Let them fail. Let them change their minds. “Everything is yours to have,” Stokes says, “if you’re strong enough to reach for it.” That’s not just advice for kids, it’s a life philosophy as disruptive and liberating as Nike’s “Just Do It."   

On what she’d take from Jackson to Los Angeles, Stokes’ answer is immediate and heartfelt: Food. Family. Faith. She says every trip home is a pilgrimage to some of Jackson’s most iconic bites — Eddie’s and Ruby’s, E&L BBQ, Stamps Super Burgers and Bop’s Frozen Custard, for a sweet treat. These places aren’t just restaurants; they’re memory keepers, taste markers, and part of the rhythm of home. 

And in return? She would offer Jackson more of a gift she found in L.A: freedom of expression and radical acceptance of being fully, unapologetically one’s self.  

There’s no blueprint for a life like Trinitee Stokes’. She’s a multi-hyphenate with too much imagination to be boxed in, too much grace to be overlooked and too much Mississippi soul to be erased. She’s not just making music. She’s making meaning. And if you’re smart, you’ll follow her.