A local high school student has won a contest and will be performing on country singer Roy Clark’s upcoming Canadian tour.
The first time Amanda Thate sang in front of a crowd, she was two years old at the Country Gospel Jamboree her grandmother organized, so it wasn’t really a surprise when the high school student won the chance to tour with Clark.
But when they called her name, she was still surprised, given the level of talent she was up against.
“The people were amazing that were in the bands,” she says.
She then immediately got to sign a contract to play before Roy Clark.
“I’ll be the opening act and get about 25 minutes before each of his concerts in Kelowna, Trail and Cranbrook.”
Amanda was invited to open for Clark after winning a contest put on by KBS radio. Contestants submitted YouTube videos, which people voted on, and Amanda made it to the top-five.
Then they had a sing-off at the Element Bar and Grill in Castlegar.
Amanda’s mother Monica is impressed by her daughter, given that she was competing against over 30 others at the beginning.
“You could be any age, so she was competing against seasoned performers,” Monica says.
Amanda is now in the process of recording an album to sell at the concerts – it is a mix of her favourite country songs and one her mom wrote.
She says she writes songs, but isn’t quite ready to put her stuff out there yet and still isn’t sure what to call the album.
Monica says that Amanda did select an album title but after doing the cover photo shoot, she looked too happy for the original name.
“It was a sad album name so we thought, ‘No, you can’t have such a sad title with such a happy face,’” Monica says. “It didn’t go with it.” Amanda says it will probably be a self-titled album.
Monica says that on her side the family has always been musical.
“My mom’s family were all musical,” she says. “It goes back probably four generations.”
Amanda’s grandmother sang at the Calgary Stampede for a number of years and (Monica) won a bunch of awards when she was her daughter’s age, which got her recording studio time and back then it wasn’t easy to get, says Amanda’s father Brian.
“These girls have all done well,” he says.
Amanda managed to win the Grand Forks Idol contest back in 2008 after playing guitar for only six months. Her grandmother started her off with a few chords and from there it was all self taught off the Internet.
She says she also sings at her church, the Gospel Chapel.