Local sings his way to Nashville

NORTH STAFFORD — As hundreds of commuters headed to work last week, 16 people planned to leave work for a trip to Wawa.

Several of the people arrived at the North Stafford Wawa on April 16 near the Interstate 95 ramps before 4:45 a.m. for their chance to sing and play on-air with country music station.

The station was holding an open competition to let local folks sing their way to Country Music Television’s Camp Nashville.

Andi King, in charge of promotions for the radio station, said that they had originally planned to narrow it down to five people for voters to choose from, “but there are too many good ones!” she said.

Denny More, Thunder radio host from 5 a.m. to 10 a.m., agreed. He said: “There were none of those clunkers like you see on “American Idol.” It’s going to be a really hard decision for those people to vote.”

Voters were invited to listen to the recorded songs both online and when they were played back on the radio and call in to vote for their favorite artist.

More than 1,000 people called in their votes the next morning, with Steven Bruce, Tara Lane, Lenny Hambrick and Tanya Madison coming in close behind the ultimate winner, Josh Knight.

Lane performed an original song at about 5:30 a.m., when it was so cold she could barely move her fingers on her guitar. She then stayed until after 10 a.m. to support the other musicians.

“I thought it was a great opportunity and a great experience,” said Lane.

Hambrick performed John Connoly’s “Common Man” at half past seven. He said, “It’s been fun. It’s great to get out, maybe record a few songs.”

After the results were tallied, 18 percent of the votes went to Knight and his rendition of “Reeling ‘Em In,” sending him to Camp Nashville in Tennessee from May 21 through 25.

Camp Nashville is a fantasy camp in which 100 people travel to Nashville to receive coaching from top artists, putting together and naming a band and opening an actual ticketed concert featuring Phil Vassar and Lady Antebellum at the Wildhorse Saloon.

J.D. Duling, who occasionally plays with Lane, said, “I think it’s a great, novel idea, a chance for other people to meet a lot of local talent.”

Wawa employee Diana Rivera ,of Stafford, said, “It was pretty good, pretty calm. A lot of people liked it. The music didn’t scare anybody off.”

Edwin Pardue, sales manager for the radio station, said he was delighted with the turnout.

“There have been people from all over our community playing music all day,” he said. “It’s great.”

Megan Sweeney is a contributing writer for the Stafford County Sun. She can be reached at info@staffordcountysun.com.