Megan Conner, who was born in Greensboro, wants to be a country-music singer. She is blonde, which helps. She is cute, which is a must. She was a theater major in college -- following in the footsteps of such country legends as, well, um....
Reba McEntire has worked in theater -- Broadway, no less, so there you go.
Conner also happens to look really good on television, which is critical, as she is making her lunge for the brass ring of fire as one of six finalists chosen to compete on Great American Country -- a digital-cable TV channel (125 on Time Warner) that is presenting the Next GAC Star reality show, the finals of which will be broadcast on Wednesday and Sept. 10. It can also be pondered online at www.gactv.com/star.
Conner also sings well -- or so sayeth the general public, members of which have been casting votes, along with eight music-business insiders, since May 23. In a conversation last week, she talked about her influences, which include blues singer Bonnie Raitt, rock singer Melissa Etheridge, pop singer Jewel, who recently converted to country, and Carrie Underwood, who is technically pop-rock, but who has been happy to rack up sales to a newly impressed country audience.
"I've learned a lot by watching Carrie's videos," Conner said. "I really love pop -- but I've listened to country since I was young. And Carrie really conveys pop and country in a way that I admire."
Conner was born in Greensboro and has family in Eden. She was raised in Texas, then, being a degree-toting theater major, she scampered off to New York in search of The Big Time.
What she got were Bygone Times in the way of songwriter Paul Vance, the author of Brian Hyland's "Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini," a No. 1 hit in 1960, and Perry Como's "Catch a Falling Star," another No. 1 in 1958. Fifty years earlier, said Conner, and she could have been a star.
"He's been saying that he discovered me, but that's not true," Conner said. "I was hired to sing on a couple of songs for him, but that was it."
Conner got her break teaching physical fitness while in New York. "I was teaching a spinning class based around music that became really popular. It brought me to the attention of a whole bunch of music exectutives, which led to me going to Nashville."
Conner has yet to tour, but she has performed in some clubs in Nashville and remains confident that a career in country music is in her future. "That's what I am hoping will come from this contest," she said. "I'm working hard, and I see it as a means of achieving something bigger and better."
The Grand Prize winner will get to make a video to be shown on GAC, and receive a Gibson Hummingbird Guitar and a recording contract with Original Signal Recordings -- home to, well, nobody of note.
"Getting your foot in the door is the hard part," Conner said, brimming with confidence. "I don't expect to make money right away. I can make money teaching fitness. I want to make music."
The annual Band Aid for Burn Victims benefit, sponsored by the Winston-Salem Jaycees, will be held at 8 p.m. tonight at The Garage. Doug Davis & The Solid Citizens will be performing songs from the band's soon-to-be released CD. Caleb Caudle & The Bayonets, who just finished recording their second CD, are also on the bill. All proceeds will benefit the North Carolina Burn Center in Chapel Hill. New, homegrown music for a just cause -- what's not to like?
Finally, one from the hey-let's-get-the-band-back-together department: The Shadows of Thyme, a Winston-Salem rock band that was popular in the late 1960s and early '70s, will reunite for one show at 7 p.m. Sunday at the Highland Presbyterian Church Fellowship Hall.
This is noteworthy for local music fans for a couple of reasons -- the Shadows of Thyme was among the first local bands to make an album. And second, the location is that of the old Highland Coffeehouse, back in the day, a weekly stab at presenting live rock music to Winston-Salem teens.
Opening will be Dale Smith, formerly of The Sacred Irony.
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