Leisure McCorkle began in 1997 as a musical project of Lee McCorkle. Formerly in Local/regional outfits Misguided Youth and Funkenstein, McCorkle fine tuned his songwriting skills on the side. In college at Appalachian State University with the band Big Boy and UNC-Chapel HIll, McCorkle started to play under the name Leisure McCorkle and put together a full time band in the summer of 1997 with Grainger Gilbert (Granger), Justin Faircloth (The Houstons), and the two Mikes (of Jolene).