Finalists have been selected for the 19th annual Chris Austin Songwriting Contest, hosted by MerleFest 2011. The festival is scheduled for April 28-May 1, on the campus of Wilkes Community College in Wilkesboro, North Carolina.
Writers of the following twelve songs, selected from over 1,053 entries, will compete on the Austin Stage at MerleFest on Friday, April 29:
Bluegrass
Tonya Lowman – “Heartwrenching Lovesick Memories” (Lenoir, N.C.)
David Grindstaff, Benjamin Poteat and David Snider – “The Working Man” (Marion, N.C.)
Ashleigh Caudill – “Row By Row” (Asheville, N.C.)
Country
Mickey Clark – “Bakersfield Wine” (Louiville, Ky.)
Lera Lynn – “Bobby, Baby” (Athens, Ga.)
Thom Case – “The Smart Thing” (Brentwood, Tenn.)
Gospel/Inspirational
Johnny Tanner – “Wake Up John” (Florence, S.C.)
Tony Feathers – “On The Rock Where Moses Stood” (Gray, Tenn.)
Rachel Harrington – “He Started Building My Mansion In Heaven Today” (Seattle, Wash.)
General
Joseph LeMay – “River In My Heart” (Dyersburg, Tenn.)
The Honeycutters (Amanda Anne Platt) – “Little Bird” (Asheville, N.C.)
Driftwood Fire (Charlotte D. Formichella and Lynn Scharf) – “The Salty Sea” (Ft. Collins, Colo.)
Each of the twelve finalists will enjoy admission and lodging for four nights at MerleFest, and will receive a mentoring session with Grammy®-winning singer/songwriter Jim Lauderdale. In addition, the first place winners will receive a performance slot on the Cabin Stage on Friday of the festival.
The Chris Austin Songwriting Contest is a unique opportunity for aspiring writers to have their original songs heard and judged by a panel of Nashville music industry professionals, under the direction of this year’s volunteer contest chairperson Jim Lauderdale. Judging is based on a song’s originality, lyrics, melody and overall commercial potential.
This year’s on-site judges are Wyatt Durrett, Corb Lund and Molly Nagel. Durrette is a respected songwriter whose credits include “Chicken Fried,” the wildly successful number one hit by Grammy Award winning Zac Brown Band. Lund, Alberta’s acclaimed alternative country star, has been named Roots Artist of the Year by the Canadian Country Music Association for the last five years running and was again nominated this year. Nagel is the newly-appointed general manager of the Asheville-based innovative marketing company Music Allies; previously she spent 12 years in publicity and artist development for venerated roots indie Sugar Hill Records.
The following were judges for the first round of competition during which the finalists were selected: Donica Christenson – Sugar Hill Records; Tim Dubois – ASCAP Nashville; Sara Johnson – creative director, Bug Music; Casey Kelly – songwriter/vice president, Songwriters Guild; Joe Limardi – program director, WSM; Shannon McCombs – producer/writer/host; Megan McNair – publicist/editor, Music City News Media; Nathan Nicholson – independent song plugger/publisher; Caine O’Rear – editor/co-publisher, American Songwriter Magazine; Victoria Shaw – singer/songwriter and producer; Joyce Symans – membership administrator, Americana Music Association; Joe West – songwriter/producer.
Net proceeds from the Chris Austin Songwriting Contest support the Wilkes Community College Chris Austin Memorial Scholarship. Since its inception the scholarship has awarded over $35,000 to 71 deserving students. The 2010-2011 Chris Austin Memorial Scholarship recipients are Mary R. Griffith and Thomas Noah Russell. Previous winners of the Chris Austin Songwriting Contest include Gillian Welch, Tift Merritt, Michael Reno Harrell, Adrienne Young, Martha Scanlan, David Via and Johnny Williams.
