CMT Blog: Archive

Somewhere, right now, there’s a future country star belting out “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas” in some acoustically-challenged, elementary-school gymnasium. That’s what I thought to myself last night, as I watched my kids and their classmates put on their annual Christmas musical. I searched those risers for the one student who would one day be a star. Because these are the stages where the Carrie Underwoods, Kenny Chesneys, Jennifer Nettles‘ and Keith Urbans honed their crafts, right? They didn’t just wake up as adults and decide to be singers. It happens way earlier than that and usually requires a childhood full of plays and choirs and county fairs to perfect those vocals.

So could the little boy with the clip-on plaid tie who sang “We Fish You a Hairy Chistmoose” at the top of his lungs be a potential Trace Adkins? And what about the tiny songbird who had a big solo on “Silent Night”? I can totally picture her growing up to be the next Sara Evans. And is the girl singing “What Child Is This” with all the power she could muster destined to be the Martina McBride of her generation? I couldn’t help but wonder if the stars we know and love today shone a little brighter than their classmates in these pageants. Did the crowd in Checotah, Okla., know that Underwood was somehow different? Did Chesney’s classmates and their parents in Luttrell, Tenn., hear more potential in his voice than others? I am kind of an eternal optimist, so I remain hopeful that somewhere in my town, one little kid will grow up to be a country music sensation and I can say, “I knew her when.”

Photo credit: Getty Images. Kaitlyn Maher, 4, performs at the lighting of the National Christmas Tree at the White House on Dec. 4, 2008.