It’s the quintessential Hollywood story: a talented girl from a small town travels to the big city to make her dreams come true.
That’s just what is happening to 20-year-old Priscilla Barker, who grew up in Amory and is now heading to Hollywood to perform on “American Idol.” This guitar-strumming, country-singing young woman, who recently moved to Nashville to launch her career, reminisced about her experience so far during a phone interview Wednesday with The Dispatch.
Barker began performing around Amory when she was just 12.
“I’ve always wanted to be a performer,” she said.
She remembers singing in the school talent shows and in other performances around the town. Playing in school talent shows eventually turned into entering more competitions and traveling to sing outside of Amory, a process which led to her recent move to Nashville. When not appearing before “American Idol” producers, Barker’s been performing around Nashville, particularly in the popular Puckett’s Grocery and Restaurant.
“It’s been a pretty big transition,” Barker said, referring to the move.
She’s found Nashville fast-paced compared to Amory’s more laid back feel.
“I definitely had to get used to traffic,” she said, recalling that she had to “retrain” herself to leave 30 minutes earlier than she would have left in Amory to get anywhere. But it’s definitely a good transition for Barker.
“I love being here and being in the fast pace of it all,” she said.
But it is Barker’s audition on “American Idol” and her chance to go to Hollywood that has gotten national attention. The audition process started last summer during what Barker called a “cattle call” when thousands of “American Idol” hopefuls performed for the show’s producers.
“If you make it past that, you have two more rounds that you have to make it through in order to audition in front of the judges,” Barker said.
The process takes several months, so it has kept Barker busy. She made it through every round and finally performed for the show’s famous judges. After she sang a rendition of Tanya Tucker’s “Delta Dawn,” the judges voted two to one to send her on to Hollywood.
But the most special moment of the experience for Barker is something a little closer to home. Performing in front of the judges meant that her mother got to meet country star Keith Urban, the judge who cast the deciding vote that sent Barker to Hollywood.
“She always talks about him, she’s a huge fan,” Barker said. “That made me feel really good that I got to help her meet one of her idols.”
It was clear from the interview that family is important to Barker, who is the youngest of 10 siblings. When asked who her favorite singer was, she laughingly admitted it was pretty hard to pick one favorite and then settled on someone beloved by her whole family: another country star, Kenny Chesney.
“We are all in love with Kenny Chesney,” she said.
Barker also talked a little bit about the other musically-inclined member of her family, her grandmother, also a professional performer. Though she died before Barker was ever able to meet her, Barker grew up hearing stories about her. Barker said it was always special to her mother that her grandmother’s gift of musical talent passed down to Barker.
Barker will appear on the next round of “American Idol” auditions before judges in Hollywood in February. Whatever happens next on the show, it’s clear this small-town girl is making big dreams come true.
“This is where I want to be and this is what I want to do,” she said.
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