When she first pursued her career in country music, Mickey Guyton was met with doubt, but now she’s being called country music’s next star, reports “CBS This Morning” co-host Gayle King.
It’s still not rare, though, for people to be surprised when they find out she’s a black country singer.
“I’ll be in a cab ride and, you know, they’ll ask me what I do. And I’m like, ‘Oh, I sing.’ And they’re like, ‘OK. Cool. What kind of music do you sing?’ I’ll be like, ‘Country,’ and they’re like, ‘What?’ And I’m like ‘Yeah, surprise.’ And then it’s true, they’re interested,” she said.
Guyton’s steady rise through Nashville’s country music scene began four years ago. The Texas native’s powerful vocals have led her to stages everywhere from the White House to country mecca the Grand Ole Opry.
But she started, like so many others, singing in church.
“It wasn’t until my church took a field trip to go see a Texas Rangers baseball game, and the announcer says, ‘Please rise as 10-year-old LeAnn Rimes sings the National Anthem.’ And I was just completely mesmerized because this little girl my age could sing like a grown woman. And I knew that that’s what I wanted to do,” Guyton said.
But when she told people she wanted to be a country-western singer, the reaction was usually unanimous.
“They think I’m crazy,” Guyton said. “I mean, at that time, there wasn’t anybody on the (country) charts African-American.”
When she was 20 years old, she moved to Los Angeles to pursue her dream while attending college and working two part-time jobs. In 2011, she landed a deal with Capitol Records Nashville.
Guyton was still working at Nordstrom at the time, so she hadn’t quite made it yet. Then she wrote “Better Than You Left Me.”
“I wrote this song about a guy that completely shattered my heart. He was like my first love. I’d just moved to Nashville and I was on my way to my very first co-writing session and we’re going back and forth and he was trying to come back into my life and I’m like, ‘Where were you when none of this was going on? When I was struggling,’ and then he says to me, ‘Don’t make me find someone else,'” she said.
That heartbreak turned into a record-breaking hit.
Guyton’s single was added to 79 radio stations its first week, making it the highest debut ever in country music history.
She still remembers the moment she first heard it on the radio.
“My manager’s driving in the car, and we’re just sittin’ there, talking, and yada-yada-yada. And all of a sudden, I hear this familiar song. And I’m thinking like, ‘OK, this is a joke. Like, what? Is there, like, a CD in there?’ And it was my song. And all I could do was just put my hand over my mouth, and just it doesn’t feel real. And you’re just like, ‘This is what I dreamed about.’ And it happened,” she said.
Another dream would come true for Guyton when country music giant Brad Paisley asked her to join him on the “Crushin’ It” world tour.
“I was at St. Jude Children’s Hospital and all of a sudden my manager’s calling me, so I step out and he’s like, ‘So Brad wants you to go on tour with him.’ I’m like, ‘Do I have a pulse?’ And he was like, ‘Yes.’ So I was like, ‘Of course,'” Guyton said.
Another feeling she won’t forget is the one she gets when she looks out across a mass of fans and they all know the words to her songs.
“It’s one of the greatest feelings. Like to see people singing the words to your song, it’ll literally bring you to tears,” she said.
Guyton’s already made a mountain of accomplishments, but still dreams to work with Carrie Underwood and Keith Urban, but most of all, Dolly Parton.
“‘Cause I just love her, and she’s such a bad you-know-what. Like, even now,” she said.
Want to know more about Mickey Guyton? She’ll be answering your questions at3:30 pm EST on our Facebook page.
© 2015 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/black-female-country-singer-mickey-guyton-rise-country-stardom/
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YOUNG “FESTIES” ROCK OUT AT KIDZAPALOOZA
This year, about 300,000 people packed Chicago’s Grant Park for Lollapalooza. The lineup was bigger than ever and catered to a crowd of all ages, reports CBS News correspondent Adriana Diaz.
For fans, the three-day festival met all expectations: long days of music, little room to dance, the requisite and retro flower crowns.
But what was once an adolescent rite of passage is trending younger than ever. The married-with-children set is opting to bring their kids along.
Eleana and Bradley Keding from Detroit are festival fans from their teens. This is the first time the couple in their 40s brought their twin boys.
“Once you start seeing live music and you love it, it just continues and so we wanted to pass it on to these kids,” Elena said.
The parents said they would have had to leave the boys at home if not for Kidzapalooza.
“It’s almost like this little hidden garden,” Bradley said. “They can kind of just play like a playground with music and then you can take them out and actually experience a big show.”
Jane’s Addiction frontman Perry Farrell started Lollapalooza 24 years ago. As his own kids grew up and fans started having kids of their own, he added Kidzapalooza to include them all.
“I wanted a place that they could have fun at and learn and enjoy themselves and bring their friends and that’s what they do,” Farrell said. “It’s not a Disney thing; it’s a cool ‘Lolla’ thing and I think its really cool to have that.”
Kidzapalooza’s performers included the Jimmy’s and the Helmets, a band of middle-schoolers with 11-year-old Tye Trujillo on bass.
His dad Robert Trujillo of Metallica was part of Lollapalooza’s headline act.
“It’s great because they’re sort of opening the day and we’re closing the day,” Trujillo said.
Tye said when he grows up he wants to be a bass player like his dad.
Trujillo hopes festivals become more and more kid-friendly.
“The Kidzapalooza stage is a great fun atmosphere. Rock music needs to keep going. I’m glad that it’s happening through the Kidzapalooza stage,” he said.
Like the bigger festival, the Kidzapalooza experience went beyond the stage. There were drum circles. Karaoke. Even rock and roll stylists on hand.
© 2015 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/lollapalooza-kidzapalooza-caters-younger-music-festival-crowds/