Dec. 13, 2008
Nashville Star finalist earns UT Martin degree
MARTIN, Tenn. – Alyson Gilbert-Harms seldom passes up an opportunity to be on stage. A performance obligation kept the Nashville Star finalist from walking across UT Martin’s commencement stage Dec. 13 to accept her diploma. But with her final exams behind her and degree in hand, the future is filled with possibilities, including Alyson’s dream to succeed in the music business.
Better known by her stage name, Alyson Gilbert, the 29-year-old performer burst on the national scene in June when she became a finalist on Nashville Star, the country music talent-search show. Although disappointed that she didn’t win, the “peaks and valleys” experience gave her a new perspective on the entertainment industry and her own priorities.
Born in Texas and raised in Crookston, Minn., Alyson attended two years at Minnesota State University Moorhead where she studied vocal performance. She developed vocal nodules, was forced to undergo voice therapy and dropped out of school. She met her husband, Brian, and eventually relocated to Jackson, Tenn., where he had taken a job with the Black & Decker Corp. Besides the opportunity for Brian, the move to Tennessee also brought her closer to Nashville and the music business. With a music career always in the picture, she returned to school to pursue a degree that involved animals. “Martin was perfect, because it was within driving distance of my home and had the animal science degree that I was looking to pursue,” she said.
Alyson’s academic pursuits nudged her out of her comfort zone in that she wasn’t raised on a farm and had no experience being around large animals. She smiled as she remembered the university’s hands-on approach to teaching animal science making her much more comfortable with “the big guys” such as cattle and other livestock. A multiple dog-and-cat owner, she admits to being “obsessed with animals” but added, “I consider myself real fortunate (because) I have two really strong passions in my life – animals and music – and I know that some people don’t ever have one. So, I feel real blessed to have those two things in my life.”
Establishing a comfort zone for performing also did not come easily, although she was raised in a musically inclined family. She began singing in church with her mom when she was eight years old, and she progressed to singing in high school choir and local competitions. She also competed in pageants, which became an unwanted focus of her Nashville Star experience. “Where I grew up, if you wanted to get up on stage and perform, your options were limited, and pageants gave you an opportunity to get up and get comfortable in front of an audience. … For me, I had horrible stage fright when I was young, and that really actually helped me get over that,” she said. In later years, her pageant successes included winning the Miss St. Paul title and finishing twice in the top-10 in the late 1990s for Miss Minnesota.
Alyson’s years of performing and obvious singing talent prompted people to encourage her to audition for one of the national talent-search shows. She resisted at first, wanting to “make it on my own like everybody else did.” After attempting several avenues to showcase her talent, some more successful than others, Alyson finally decided to give Nashville Star a try. She and a friend took a video camera around the Martin campus showing some of the things Alyson did in her academic major, thinking that a singer who also studied animal science might be an attention-getting combination.
“I sent in a tape, and they called me and told me that I made it to the national finals just from the tape, so I didn’t have to audition again,” she said. The national audition, held in Austin, Texas, earned her a spot in the competition’s top 50. She then went to Nashville to audition for the celebrity judges and there learned that she was a top-10 finalist out of 45,000 auditions. “It’s not at the American Idol level, but it was still a fair amount of people,” she said.
The Nashville Star experience produced its share of highs and lows. She said meeting the other contestants is among her best memories of the competition. “They were all very, very talented musicians and artists, and I think that none of us really, unfortunately, were able to showcase what we really do on the show,” she said. “I don’t know that that’s necessarily a fault of the show. I just think we just didn’t get to.” She added, “I made some friendships that I never would have made. I learned so many things from each of them, and, in fact, I still have relationships with a lot of them.”
Alyson said that being away from family and friends was the hardest part of the experience, which made dealing with the stress very difficult. Finalists were allowed no cell phones, no e-mail and no outside communication during the show. Another difficult aspect of the experience was being portrayed as a “pageant girl” because of her previous pageant success. “Not to say that that is a bad thing,” she said. “I know many talented, amazing girls who paid their way through college doing pageants.” For Alyson, though, the label left her feeling misrepresented under the national spotlight.
On the plus side, Alyson will especially remember celebrity judge Jeffrey Steele, a highly successful songwriter, and Melissa Lawson, the eventual Nashville Star winner. During the show, Alyson said the celebrity judges had to point out flaws in the contestants’ performances, “but he (Steele) really went out of his way to come up to us after and make sure that he told us personally the things he liked, too.” He also offered encouragement to those who were voted off the show. “I really thought that that was exceptional to see in somebody who’s obtained that status in the industry. …” she added.
Lawson, besides becoming the newest Nashville Star winner, was also a memorable contestant because of her five young sons who received their share of attention during the series. “She (Lawson) just stands out to me as somebody who’s very driven, and she has a strong faith in God and faith in herself,” Alyson said. “And I thought that that was really great that she never waivered in her faith that she would win it, and I think maybe that’s why she won. She just didn’t let the pressure get to her, and that’s something I admire a lot.”
In the lessons-learned category from her experience, Alyson said “that you have to be true to yourself no matter what anybody says.” She added, “I really walked away reaffirming to myself that I am who I am, and I need to be who I am no matter what. And you can take peoples’ opinions with a grain of salt, but at the end of the day, you have to go to bed at night knowing that you’ve been your best self, and that’s what that show taught me.”
The show also made her think about performing at the next level and whether she really wants to continue pursuing this goal. “I still want to be a performer and an artist. At what capacity, I haven’t decided yet.” She paused and added, “Actually the school experience and the Nashville Star experience blended together (and) kind of changed some of my path a little bit.” For now, she’s taking a break from a highly planned life and following her mom’s advice to “let go, let God” and see what develops.
In terms of using her college degree, she’s recently taken a job with the Jackson-Madison County Humane Society, which follows her passion for animal welfare. “While it’s not the biggest, high-paying job I could ever have gotten, I think it’s going to bring me a lot of self satisfaction, doing something that I love,” she said. Graduate and veterinary school are also options, “But I do know that I will use my degree to make the lives of animals better,” she said. “At what capacity – (I’m) not a 100 percent sure, but I know that’s why I got the degree.”
Still, her performing dream is alive and well, but she knows that factors beyond her control will influence where she lands. “It’s all about timing, and luck, luck, luck, luck, luck,” she said, and added, “I think it’s just being at the right place at the right time. Everybody says that, but it is, and knowing the right people. Unfortunately, the music industry is not completely talent based.” She’s met musicians who are, in her opinion, more talented than some well-known artists heard on the radio, but they’ll likely never make it in the business because of timing or lack of connections, she said.
Given her experiences, Alyson’s advice to aspiring performers comes in two parts. First, she says to “go for it.” She then added, “My only other advice would be absolutely do not change who you are, because you will get completely lost if you do.”
Professional-level singing talent and a hard-earned college degree have this Minnesota native ready to pursue her passions at the next level. The curtain on the stage continues to open a little wider for Alyson Gilbert-Harms. (You can learn more about Alyson and hear her music on the Web at alysongilbert.com.)
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