Local duo headed for Country Music Showdown
Robert Stevens
Managing editor
3-9-2017
SPRING CITY—Skyline Drive, a local country music act comprised of two Spring City brothers, is headed to a national country music competition in Nashville.
Luc and Ross Christensen will compete in the finals of the County Music Showdown, a nationwide country music talent search, this summer.
“We are excited to have this opportunity to go to Nashville and compete against some of the most talented musicians in the country,” Ross said. “We’ve come a long ways, and to go from Spring City to competing in the country music capital of the world is pretty cool.”
The brothers perform original music in addition to songs from popular artists such as Ed Sheeran, James Bay and Sam Hunt.
Luc, the lead vocalist, plays the guitar and writes the original songs. Ross, the percussionist, gets the rhythm going by playing the Cajon, a box-like instrument originally from Peru. In addition to the Cajon, Ross uses the djembe, cymbals and other percussion instruments to add texture to Luc’s vocals and guitar.
The brothers have competed in the Country Showdown over the last three years and have advanced a little further each year. They won the Utah competition during the Utah State Fair in Salt Lake City last September, which advanced them to the Southwest Region.
The brothers traveled to Raton, New Mexico in October for the Southwest Regional competition. In Raton, the duo took first place, going up against acts from around the West, including Hawaii.
The Country Showdown website (thecoutryshowdown.com) explains the impact of the competition. “The Country Showdown has created opportunities for thousands of country music artists for over 35 years. As the largest and longest-running country music talent search, many of today’s popular artists such as Miranda Lambert, Garth Brooks, Brad Paisley, Sara Evans, Neil McCoy and LeAnn Rimes got their start participating in this iconic Nashville-based country music talent search.”
At the national finals, Skyline Drive will compete against four other acts for the title of the “Best New Act in Country Music” and a career-boosting prize package totaling over $100,000.
“It’s exciting and extremely humbling to be able to participate in such an amazing and historic competition,” Luc said.
Both brothers are currently attending Snow College as music majors, and Ross is teaching band and percussion at North Sanpete Middle School.
Skyline Drive performs at Malena’s Restaurant in Ephraim and the Spring City Diner and is always looking for opportunities to play in their home county, including weddings and parties. The musicians can be contacted at skylinedrivemusic1@gmail.com. Their Facebook page is facebook.com/skylinedrivemusic1, and they are located on Instagram at Instagram:skylinedriveofficial.
