CMT competition beings attention to Dexter native

Country singer and Dexter native Candy Coburn has her fingers crossed today while she awaits the results from a contest sponsored by Country Music Television (C.M.T.).

The contest, Music City Madness, is a competition placing 64 unsigned country acts head-to-head against one another for a chance to record an episode of Studio 330 Sessions, C.M.T.'s online performance series.

Coburn, a 1989 graduate of Dexter High School and step-daughter of local businessman Autry Morlan, faced off against more than 600 entries just to get in to the competition.

Dubbed by C.M.T. the "big dance" of country music, the contest places those top 64 entries in a single elimination, NCAA bracket-style competition with the first round ending tonight.

After the first round, new elimination rounds will take place weekly until the official winner is announced on Tuesday, April 3.

The results from this first round won't be released until this afternoon, but Coburn said she's not sweating it.

"I've been in a bunch of these things over the years," she said in a telephone interview Monday morning. "It's great to be in it, but we'll just have to wait and see how this first round goes." After high school, Coburn attended the University of Missouri -- Columbia on a music scholarship where she found her true calling.

"I've been singing my entire life," she said. "I sang in the choir, but I was always singing what other people wanted me to." In college, she said she was encouraged to exlplore herself musically and just do her own thing.

"It really just blew up from there," she said. Coburn is currently touring Texas and Oklahoma in support of her upcoming March release, "Rev it up".

Coburn filmed a video in Aprill 2006 at the Snorty Horse Saloon in Springfield for the title cut off of her upcoming album. "I was actually told part of the video is being used in a promotion for the contest running on C.M.T. now." Over the course of her career, Coburn has had the opportunity to open for a number of big names including Brooks & Dunn, Pat Green, Big & Rich, Blake Shelton, Tracy Lawrence and Jush Turner.

Despite opening for acts some might consider intimidating, she says it doesn't bother her a bit.

"I absolutely love it," Coburn said. "I've had a wonderful time with everyone I've played with." Being a musician isn't all fun and games like many people believe, she said.

"I've continued to become a businessperson as well as a singer-songwriter," Coburn said. "There are a lot of people, including my touring band, who depend on me to make sure the checks clear." Her next show in the region will be at the Annual 18 Fore Life benefit golf tournament hosted by Scott Kruse.

"We play it every year," she said. "They're opening it up to more people this year and selling more tickets." For more information on Candy Coburn visit http://www.candycoburn.com. For more information on Music City Madness and to vote for Candy visit http://www.cmt.com/interact/music_city_m....

Corey Noles can be contacted via e-mail at cnoles@dailystatesman.com