Dean Poling
VALDOSTA — A Lowndes High School graduate hopes to make it big as a Nashville star as part of country-music cable channel CMT’s Music City Madness Competition.
Singer-songwriter Stacia Watkins is one of 64 finalists nationwide competing in the CMT contest. Votes to the CMT Web site during the next few days could help Watkins advance into the next round of competition.
She was selected for her song “I Believe,” which Watkins wrote and performs. Tina Sauls of locally based Sauls Productions filmed the video for Watkins’ song.
The video was shot in Valdosta using Watkins’ family and friends, she says. The video is posted on You Tube.
Watkins graduated from Lowndes High and attended Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College as a music-education major before moving to Atlanta in early 2008.
There, she soon became a member of the country band Broken Rhoads, which featured Watkins as singer. Broken Rhoads also competed in CMT’s Music City Madness Competition last year, but did not make it into the next level of 32 acts. Watkins left Broken Rhoads in late 2008.
Watkins has enjoyed performing and singing for most of her life. Though her dreams have taken her to Atlanta, and she hopes this competition will take her further, she has said her foundation in performance came from home.
“... What I learned about performing, and music, and writing … I really learned and honed in Valdosta,” she told The Valdosta Daily Times in a past interview. “The music scene is wonderful there and it taught me a lot. I look forward to coming home to Valdosta as much as I can and cannot wait to perform for my hometown crowd again.”
Vote for Watkins at http://madness.cmt.com or visit www.staciawatkins.com.
