Musicians from across the state will go head-to-head this weekend in a singer-songwriter showcase at Starkville Community Theatre to determine who will take the main stage at the 40th annual Cotton District Arts Festival in April.
From about 30 applications, 15 finalists were invited to perform in front of a panel of three judges at the annual showcase. While many of the participants are first-time competitors, some, like Jonathan Barlow, are returning as champions of years past. Barlow took the stage after placing second in the showcase in 2018.
“It made me get my act together, literally,” Barlow told The Dispatch on Tuesday. “I record at home all the time, so there’s … a lot of guitar parts, piano, all that. To think about how to perform that live with just myself … is a really different question than how to make a song that you would listen to on Spotify, so that’s what I like about it – that process.”
During the showcase, scheduled for 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, each contestant will perform one warm-up song, followed by an original song for the judge panel. The top three winners will be invited to play during an hour time slot at the festival on April 18 and will also win cash prizes sponsored by the Del Rendon Foundation.
First prize will take home $500, while second and third place get $300 and $100, respectively.
Hearing the other contestants play is what Barlowa, a professor of data science at Mississippi State University, says he’s most looking forward to from this year’s competition.
“It’s not easy to know who else is writing songs,” he said. “… It’s kind of like you bring all the people out of the woodwork who are secretly doing creative stuff all the time and don’t know each other. It builds community in a way just doing it on your own, you can’t get. … Who knows? Maybe we’ll all form a big band together.”
One of the contestants Barlow will be up against is one of his own students, Kait Johnson, a senior data science major from Houston, Texas.
Johnson will be among the first-time contestants at the showcase, bringing with her a catalogue of electronic-pop songs, a genre she describes as “ambient lullabies.”
While she hopes to impress the judges, Johnson said the real test will be performing in front of her professor, Barlow.
“He hasn’t seen me perform,” Johnson told The Dispatch. “… He got me into data science. He was the first data science teacher I had, and so we used to talk about music back then … when I was a wee freshman, and I was still too scared to go out and sing … so the true judge is seeing what he thinks.”
Will Coppage of Greenville, a musician with more than 20 years of experience on the road, will also be competing in the showcase for the first time, bringing with him a backlog of “loud roots, indie-grit and Delta swagger” originals to choose from.
“While all my songs are infused with personal elements … that I’ve gotten to experience in life, I really love building these … stories and the landscape that I get to pull from, the Mississippi Delta as well as other places I’ve been,” Coppage told The Dispatch.
This will be Coppage’s second time performing in Starkville.
“I’m extremely excited to perform, but I’ll say one of the greatest things, at least for me, is getting to meet other musicians and seeing what they’re doing and how they’re pushing the envelope,” Coppage said. “… So no matter what, whoever wins, … I still say that everybody wins because of this community for songwriters.”
Cornelius Edmond, program coordinator for Starkville Area Arts Council, which sponsors the festival, said he’s looking forward the showcase.
“To me, the most exciting thing about the competition is that we’re bringing something unique to the community,” Edmond wrote in an email to The Dispatch on Tuesday. “Last year was my first time being a part of it, and it went so well. From the production to the performers, to the judges, I was absolutely blown away by how we brought it all together.”
The event is free to attend and open to the public.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 47 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
