"Zane Williams on Nashville Star II?"


Those of you who attended Wisconsin Lutheran College a few years back, might remember a talented country singer named Zane Williams who came and performed in the Campus Center. At the time he was one of the most popular music artists touring college campuses. Since then he has been voted 2003's Best Male Artist on CampusAwards.com and finalist for the 3rd Annual GRAMMY (National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences) Unsigned Artists Showcase.

Well, today I recieved his most recent emailed newsletter, and it contained some particularly exciting news. He has been selected to compete in the regional country music competition for Nashville Star II on the USA network!

For those of you unfamilar, Nashville Star is the country music version of the hugely popular American Idol on Fox. This will be the second successful season of Nashville Star.... The first season launched the professional music career of the talented Buddy Jewell.

This season (as with the last), local auditions were sponsored by various radio stations and held all across the country. From these auditions, two contestants have been selected from each city to move on to the regionals. A select few contestants were also selected via video-taped auditions. (Zane was one of these few winners based on the video tape he sent in).

So, these local winners now compete in the regional competitions in January, and a total of 20 semi-finalists will be chosen from these regional competitions to move on and perform in front of a national audience on this season's premiere episode. At the end of the first show, a panel of judges will select 10 finalists, and then, the television viewing audience will be asked to vote to add an 11th! In the end, one talented winner will emerge as the newest "Nashville Star" and land a coveted recording contract with Sony Music Nashville.

Naturally, as a long-time fan of Zane Williams I've been intruiged to follow his goal of being a Christian artist in the Country Music Industry. He is attempting to do the same thing in country music as I am hoping to do in Hollywood -- be a Christian artist in a national artistic industry. Now that he has earned a competetive spot on Nashville Star II, I guess I have even more incentive to watch this second season!

If you're interested in learning a little more about Zane, feel free to visit his website. You'll even be able to sample some of his original music! So, enjoy, and hey, keep an eye open for him on Nashville Star II!

Your happily blogging country music fan friend,
-Jon
posted by Jon at 1:18 PM  I   I  0 comments