Performing July 3rd, 2010 at 7:15pm
I’ve been told I’m a miracle child. When I was only 8 months old and living in Columbia, Mississippi, I got very ill after a round of shots. My parents carried me screaming and crying to the emergency room three nights in a row. The doctors said it was an ear infection and sent me home with pain medication. On the fourth day, I was unresponsive. The pediatrician took one look at me and sent me back to the E.R. for a spinal tap. My parents were warned I would cry and were asked to step outside the room. They waited, but I never wailed. I was admitted and diagnosed with encephalitis.
My mom watched as they did a brain scan on me. It showed no brain activity at all. My parents were given no hope I would come out of the coma. I was told every church within 60 miles was praying for me. It must’ve worked because on the seventh day, I smiled. The next day, I opened my eyes. Still, the doctors warned my family not to have high expectations. They said I would have severe learning disabilities and would need special education. They said I would have to relearn simple things, like how to swallow. On Mother’s Day they let me go home.
Miraculously, I had no complications. From then on I was a normal kid without any issues– except one - I had a strong desire to be the center of attention. And if I wasn’t; I wasn’t happy.
I guess the first time I remember performing publicly was when I was five and got a supporting role in a church play. I wasn’t satisfied until everyone was focused on me instead of on the leads in the play. Just before my ninth birthday my mom, dad, sister and I moved to Clearwater, Florida. Our school music teacher offered me the only solo at a spring festival. I sang “Love Can Build a Bridge.” My parents say they didn’t know I had any singing ability until that night. Even the kids at my school thought I was a super star. Some even wanted my autograph. I guess that opened my eyes.
Later that same year, we met a group of country singers performing in front of our local K-Mart. My dad asked if I could get up and sing along. I sang the only country song I knew, “Little Bitty” by Alan Jackson. They liked it and asked me to sing with them at a fair later that night. I had to sing three songs, so I learned two others in the car on the way there. They also invited me to a fair where we’d open for David Lee Murphy.
When he came on stage I went out front to watch his set. Some of the crowd noticed me and started asking for my autograph and taking my picture. Later a table was set up right beside David Lee Murphy’s so I could sign autographs just like him. I remember looking at my dad that night saying “I like this. I think this is what I want to do.”
After that weekend my parents booked some solo shows for me, but we didn’t have any equipment to play my karaoke-style accompaniment tracks. All I had was a set of Pearl drums my grandfather had given me for my ninth birthday. So we loaded them up on the back of the truck and traded them in for a small PA system made up of Tyler Dickerson, a CD player, mixing board, two speakers and two microphones which my dad set up in the dining room. While I learned more songs, my dad booked shows. It wasn’t long before I had a steady gig at the local flea market, The Wagon Wheel in Seminole, Florida, singing every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday for six hours straight. My dad worked the sound and my mom and little sister gave me breaks every so often by singing a few songs themselves.
When it looked like all of this was starting to work, we made a family decision that my dad quit his job to become my booking agent and manager. It was a difficult choice. We had to move out of our house because we couldn’t afford it only on my mom’s income. That’s when my dad started booking me paying gigs. Soon I was performing at local pubs, mobile home parks, fairs, festivals and private parties. I also landed an annual gig in Martin County, Fla. where I opened for David Lee Murphy, Blackhawk and Trent Tomlinson. I’ve also been asked to perform for several years in a row at Charlie Daniels’ benefit for The Angelus, a home for the severely handicapped in Tampa, Fla. At the benefit concert I’ve had the chance to meet and perform with great artists like Montgomery Gentry, The Marshall Tucker Band, Jason Aldean, James Otto, Lady Antebellum, Trick Pony, Confederate Railroad, and of course the sponsor, Mr. Charlie Daniels himself.
My career in country was picking up so I had to visit Nashville. I went in every bar and honky tonk on Broadway asking to sing. I was only 10, but I loved it. On the drive back to Florida, I wrote my first song, “Honky Tonk Junkie” which became a song on the first album I recorded a few months later.
But it still wasn’t enough. I had to go back. So in 2007 my mom put in her two- week’s notice, we sold what we could in a yard sale and loaded up everything else ina U-Haul for Nashville. Well, almost Nashville - we stayed with my grandparents in Clarksville, which is about an hour outside Nashville, until we found a house to rent. Then we hit yard sales to find furniture.
In Nashville, I went to Tootsies Orchid Lounge for open mic night. The first time I sang, the man who books the place was outside and didn’t get to hear me. The next Saturday I made sure he did. After I finished my two songs he offered me a spot at Tootsies every Tuesday and Thursday. I was hoping for the weekend but at least I had my foot in the door. Pretty soon I got my wish - I was singing Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays on the front stage.
I met loads of cool people there. One was Mitzi Dawn, a singer/songwriter who is friends with John Rich. She asked me if I’d ever met him because she thought he’d be able to open some doors for me. She told us where we could find him and said that we should try and meet him. But no matter how many times my dad asked him, John wouldn’t let me on stage to sing. He said he’d have to hear me somewhere else before he’d let me up on “his” stage. Thankfully, Mitzi kept hounding him. Eventually he told her about a talent competition he was putting on – the Get Rich Talent Search at Nashville’s 12th & Porter. He told her that if I’m as good as she said I was then I should enter. I was the only teenager. The judges were from several Nashville record labels. After I performed two original songs, John came on stage and sang with me. That night, I came in third. John soon had another competition where the cast of CMT’s “Gone Country 2” were the judges. Again, I was the youngest. But when John announced the winner I didn’t care. He began by saying: “We all need to go home and do our homework because this 14 year old has just kicked ass!”
After that night, John and his business partner Charlie had ideas for me. They offered me a five-song album, a publishing and management deal. And I started writing with some of the best songwriters in Nashville like Billy Lawson, Ed Hill, and Kim Tribble. I also got regular gigs in Nashville on Broadway at Legend’s Corner on Thursdays and The Stage on Sundays. I went into the recording studio in November of 2008 and the five-song album was ready in December. John called up a bunch of record labels to set up meetings where I could perform. He also set up showcases for me. Everyone was nice, but I felt something special with Lyric Street. I just kept thinking about them. It just felt comfortable. And they seemed to like me too because they asked me to do an acoustic show for them. A week later John called saying Lyric Street wanted to meet with me again.
So I went back and sat down with Lyric Street Records President Randy Goodman and Sr. Vice President A&R Doug Howard. This time I didn’t play but instead just poured my heart out to them. I told them about how my family and I have struggled for the past six years trying to chase my dream. We have all given up a lot, moved so many times I lost track, and since February we have been living in a 26-foot camper because we couldn’t afford a house and utilities. We no longer had privacy. I slept on the sofa and my sister turned the table into her bed at night. I wanted them to know what my family and I have been through. I wanted to show them how serious I am about making this my career. I said my piece. Then they asked me to be part of their family. The Lyric Street family.
So here I am. It’s been a long road of hard work, dedication, sacrifices, and stress, but I’m living my dream. This means the world to me. It kind of feels like a miracle. And when I hear my song the first time on the radio my heart’s going to drop. It’s going to be amazing. It’ll feel like heaven.
