Big audiences made for big excitement for a local country music performer at this year’s Calgary Stampede.
Tanya Ryan, who lives near Okotoks, was a top contender in the Nashville North Star country music contest making it all the way to the finals on July 11 where she lost out to eventual winner Mackenzie Porter of Medicine Hat.
For the competition, Ryan performed two different nights at the Stampede’s celebrated Nashville North live music venue and explained she was grateful for the experience.
“It was really fun actually,” she said. “That’s a good stage to be on, absolutely. I was on my second night at 6:30 p.m. and it was a pretty full house, which was kind of nice.”
With an audience capacity in the neighborhood of 1,700 people, Ryan easily performed for her biggest crowds ever at the Stampede and enjoyed the spectacle of playing at the event.
“It was neat,” she said. “You got the whole experience. They had the live video feed going so they have these big cameras pointed at you. It was very cool. I was pumped. I am used to singing in small pubs so this was a really big thing for me.”
The six Nashville North Star finalists were each asked to perform two songs. Ryan chose to sing the Pam Tillis early ‘90s hit “Cleopatra, Queen of Denial” and her put her own distinctive spin on the Johnny Cash standard “Folsom Prison Blues”.
Ryan performed first in the finals and stuck around to see the others perform as well and was impressed by the talent of her fellow contestants.”
“The audience got a good show,” she said. “I actually stuck around for all the sound checks that morning too.”
Ryan, who is in her early 20s, enjoyed singing contest success in Calgary earlier this year when she won the Country 105 Lammle’s Rising Star competition in late April. While Ryan got some free concert tickets and other perks for being a Nashville North Star finalist, she said she hopes to qualify again in 2012 in hopes of taking home the grand prize. This year’s winner, Porter, collected $2,500 and the opportunity to open for country music superstar Kenny Cheney during his Stampede week concert at the Scotiabank Saddledome.
A positive Nashville North Star experience has deepened Ryan’s appreciation of singing competitions as a whole.
“It makes me understand when people get bumped off Canadian Idol or something like that why they say the whole experience was great,” she said. “You kind of roll your eyes and go ‘yeah, yeah okay’ but it’s true. You meet some good people and you have a really good time. Plus, I definitely don’t feel bad about my performance in the finals. I think I sang my butt off and I’m okay with it.”
