• Feb

  16

  Here’s where to go to start down the Country Music Highway Road to Fame contest

  Filed under: Central Kentucky Arts News, Country music, Music; Tagged as: Country Music Highway, Montgomery Gentry, Road to Fame Competition, Tom T. Hall
  
  

  Montgomery Gentry, Eddie Montgomery and Troy Gentry, on stage the night they were inducted in to the Grand Ole Opry in 2009. © The Tennessean photo by Dipti Vaidya.

  State and regional officials joined with Kentucky Country stars Tom T. Hall and Montgomery Gentry Wednesday morning to reveal the locations for the first round of the Country Music Highway Road to Fame Competition.

  The contest, announced Jan. 31 in Frankfort, aims to identify the next country music star to come out of the area around U.S. 23, which has produced stars such as Loretta Lynn, The Judds and Dwight Yoakam. That legacy earned the road the designation of the Country Music Highway by the Kentucky State Legislature in 1994.

  In a video greeting, Eddie Montgomery and Troy Gentry, whose current hit is Where I Come From, lamented that opportunities for aspiring artists to sharpen their skills in area clubs and other venues weren’t as prevalent as they once were.

  “A lot of those clubs moved to line dancing which pushed a lot of those musicians and entertainers and bands out,” Gentry said. “We support the Country Music Highway Road to Fame, and you should too.”

  The American Idol-style competition will begin with four preliminary rounds in the middle of March. The locations are:

  1 p.m. March 15: Expo Center ballroom, 126 Main St., Pikeville

  1 p.m. March. 16: Mountain Arts Center band room, 50 Hal Rogers Drive, Prestonsburg

  10 a.m. March 17: Paramount Arts Center, 1300 Winchester Avenue, Ashland

  1 p.m March 18: Sipp Theater, 336 Main Street, Paintsville

  The competition is open to people ages 13-35 who grew up in the 15 counties surrounding U.S. 23 (Letcher, Pike, Floyd, Johnson, Lawrence, Boyd, Greenup, Harlan, Perry, Knott, Magoffin, Morgan, Elliott, Carter and Lewis counties). Registration for each of the preliminary rounds will begin two hours prior to the start time.

  
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