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Your Personal Injury Lawyers

9.5.08   The Lost Trailers | Carolina Rain  9.12.08  Phil Stacey | Randy Houser 9.19.08  John Michael Montgomery | Adam Gregory 9.26.08  Lonestar | Kristy Lee Cook Every Friday in September at 8pm at the Jacksonville Landing

 

Phil Stacey's defining moment on American Idol came during Country Week, well into the competition.

"Country Week was the first one that had anything to do with my background," he says. "It was my chance to sing music I could really relate to, that drew on who I am and what I'd grown up around."

His knockout performance of Keith Urban's "Where The Blacktop Ends" impressed even the normally critical Simon Cowell, who acknowledged that the Kentucky-born singer had at last displayed his true identity in convincing style. That night, a national audience got a close-up look at a singer who had truly hit his stride.
What America hadn't seen was the unlikely circumstance that had given this Navy veteran and committed family man the opportunity to turn dreams and hard work into a career that had been a lifetime in the making. "A very dear friend asked me to be his best man," says Phil. "I was very honored and I said yes, but as it got closer, I had Navy duty that conflicted with the date and there was no way I could change it. Joking, he said, 'The only way I'll forgive you is if you audition for American Idol this year.'" His friend's belief in his talent--something shared by many people throughout his life--helped convince Phil to give it a shot, something he would not have done otherwise. Navy duty also kept him from the nearest audition, in Birmingham, and while he was at the next one, in Memphis, his wife Kendra gave birth to their second daughter, McKayla, two weeks early.

"It was a coincidence," he says, "but it's something everybody remembered me by." Missing his daughter's birth became an affectionate reference point for everyone from casual fans to Oprah Winfrey, who asked him about it on her show.

Check out Your Hometown Morning Show interviewing Phil Stacey on Audio-On Demand

“I didn’t know any different” says Randy Houser when asked how he began his journey of music. “There never was a time that I can remember as a kid when I didn’t have something to make music with. Kind of like a toy you never get tired of playing with. After my folks split, I grew up with my Mama and sister in Lake, Mississippi. I felt like the man of the house even before I was one. I’d spend a few weeks with my Daddy every summer and Christmas. He’d teach me a new chord or song while I was there.

“He always made sure that my sister and I stayed hip to good music. Our tastes in music were fairly broad for two kids from a town of less than 500 people. We got a lot of good ole country like Merle, Conway, but we were also spoon fed the artists like Bonnie Raitt, Delbert, and B.B. King - just good soulful music.

“I started fronting bands pretty early, about 13 years old, and continued playing through high school. I received a scholarship to East Central Community College, where I was surprised that music could actually help me pay for some education. At the end of my second year of school, I put together a band called 10lb. Biscuit. We kept a couple of house gigs and packed this little honky-tonk three nights a week. It was just a hell of a lot of fun to be a part of that. Those were pretty wild times