When she lost in the local competition of the 2009 Colgate Country Showdown held in Indianapolis last spring, Kendall Phillips wasn’t ready to give up on making it further in the nationwide contest.
The Zionsville native took her guitar and her music on the road, first to Illinois then to Michigan in pursuit of her goal — to be one of the five finalists in the Showdown’s 2009 National Finals in Nashville, Tennessee. And Phillips’ determination paid off. She won the state finals at the Michigan State Fair this past summer (there’s no residency requirement for the Showdown), and the Midwest Regionals in Mitchell, S.D. in early November.
On Jan. 14, Phillips will take another step in her career as a country music artist when she vies for the Colgate Country Showdown National title and the grand prize of $100,000.
The Colgate Country Showdown is billed as the “nation’s largest and longest-running country music talent search.” The list of artists who have taken part in the competition during its 28-year history includes Garth Brooks, Brad Paisley, Martina McBride, Toby Keith, Sara Evans, Tim McGraw and 2007 American Idol winner Jordin Sparks.
Like the other four finalists, Phillips will be limited to only seven minutes on the Ryman Auditorium stage.
Phillips says that such a time restriction “makes it difficult to find two songs that fit into the allotted time and give the judges and the audience a good representation of your talents. We have to adhere to the seven-minute limit, and not go a second more.”
But she won’t be compromised by external factors: “If a sound problem arises during my time onstage, I can start over,” Phillips says.
The songs that she will play that night will include an original, “Not Me,” which Phillips performed during the Michigan competition.
“I could change my choice of an original song,” Phillips says, “but I’m going to stick with the one that got me here.”
The 2009 Colgate Country Showdown National Finals will be held at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee Thursday, Jan. 14 at 7 p.m. CST. The competition, hosted by LeAnn Rimes, will be telecast in the Indianapolis area April 11 at 3 p.m. on WTHR Channel 13. Go to www.colgatecountryshowdown.com for more information.
Joe Ogara / Nuvo
