Roman HawkinsNASHVILLE MINI ME >>
Whether through a chance encounter with a casting director or a script being read by just the right person, plenty of people dream of making it big by way of pure happenstance. Some wait their entire lives for fate to favor them.
Roman Hawkins didn't even make to fourth grade before her big break.
The slight 8-year-old resident of Graysville, Ga., was selected by former "The Voice" contestant and rising country star RaeLynn to be featured in her debut music video for "God Made Girls." In the video, Roman plays a younger version of RaeLynn and wanders the woods outside a Columbia, Tenn., farm, wearing a white dress and white headband.
Barely able to contain her giggles over the phone, Roman says she enjoyed the experience this summer of making the video, which made her a bona fide mini-celebrity when she returned to Graysville Elementary School last month.
"RaeLynn was funny and super nice. [Her music] is just fun and inspiring," she says. "It was fun being with her."
Roman had several scenes with RaeLynn in the video, including one in which the older singer and her young doppelganger sit on opposite sides of a mirror frame, mimicking each other's movements while lip-synching the song.
"I love [the video]," Roman says. "It's magical."
"God Made Girls" was directed by Thomas Knox McKamy, whose past credits include work for Lady Antebellum, Gary Allan and Third Day. Less than three days after its Aug. 7 release on RaeLynn's YouTube channel, it had accrued more than 500,000 views. Now, it's just shy of 2 million.
Roman's father, WUSY-FM US-101 program director Tony Hawkins, says his daughter ended up on RaeLynn's radar after the singer's label began a promotional campaign asking radio station personnel to submit photos of the "girls" in their lives, whether wives, daughters or mothers. Such campaigns are designed to help the decision makers at radio stations connect with upcoming music in an effort to secure better airplay, Hawkins says.
This spring, he sent in photos of his wife, Tennille, Roman and her 15-month-old sister, Ezra. RaeLynn happened to be visiting her label, saw Roman's picture sitting on a desk and decided she needed to feature her in the video.
"It was by chance," he says. "Rae was at the right desk at the right time, and Roman's picture was right there."
Since the release, RaeLynn has continued to maintain contact with Roman. When the video was posted on Aug. 7, the singer texted her and asked her father to record her reaction to seeing herself online. The singer also invited Roman to join her backstage on Friday, Sept. 26, for her Grand Ole Opry debut.
That Roman wanted to be involved in a music video came as no shock to her father. All her life, Hawkins says, Roman insisted that she wasn't "daddy's little princess" but "daddy's rock star."
"[The video] was an opportunity for a dream come true and something God had lined up for her," he says.
The shoot took place in the midst of the family's summer vacation to Panama City Beach. Leaving the rest of the family at the coast, Hawkins made the eight-hour trip with her to Columbia for the shoot, which began at 3 p.m. and carried on past midnight with frequent reshoots of the same scene from different angles.
By that point, most 8-year-olds would be throwing frustrated tantrums, but Hawkins says his daughter -- the only unprofessional actress on set -- exhibited decidedly unchild-like patience.
"There comes a point when parents know, 'My kid is about to break,'" he says. "She looked over at me, and I could see her almost tearing up, and I thought, 'Hold it together. You can do it.' And she did. ... That may be the most proud that I've been of her."
Christa BishopNOT ALAINA >>
See if this sounds familiar: A blonde North Georgia country starlet sings her way up the ranks of a heated music competition with a record deal, fame and glory hanging the balance.
Smacks a bit of Rossville vocal phenom Lauren Alaina's much publicized rise to national fame during the 2011 season of "American Idol," doesn't it?
This time, though, it's another blonde North Georgia country starlet.
On Sept. 16, Ringgold High School senior Christa Bishop took the stage at the Silver Dollar Saloon in Nashville as one of 32 semifinalists in the fourth annual American Country Star contest. On Thursday, she finds out if she's one of 10 vocalists who will progress to the grand finale on Oct. 26. If she does, she'll compete for $100,000 in prizes, including recording and engineering for a six-song EP as well as professionally produced promotional materials.
Despite her similarities to the "American Idol" star, Christa insists she's determined to succeed on her own terms.
"A lot of people have referred to me as being the next Lauren Alaina," the 17-year-old says in a soft Georgian drawl. "Lauren has a great voice and she's beautiful, but ... I'm not going to be exactly like her. Me and her are two different people, two different artists. It's nice to be compared to these really big artists, but I'm my own person."
Past winners of the American Country Star competition have used their success in the contest as a career springboard. The 2012 winner, Johnny Orr, went on to open for Kenny Chesney and the Zac Brown Band. After winning the inaugural contest in 2011, Richie Law made it to the Final 13 round of "American Idol" and later competed on "X Factor."
Lori Mast, Bishop's vocal coach at Hixson-based Fireball Music, says she's pleased -- if unsurprised -- by her student's success.
"She's been working hard on improving and getting that technique down and honing that stage presence. That's paying off for her," Mast says. "I knew she had it in her."
Bishop is no stranger to the American Country Star competition. She submitted a video audition to the contest last year and was one of 200 contestants selected to advance to the second round, which required her to audition live at the Silver Dollar.
Although she stalled out in the second round, she says accepted the loss as a chance to learn more about herself. In the last year, she says she's become more self-assured and, when she re-entered the competition this year, it was with a determination to "show more attitude" and demonstrate her musical maturation.
"I've learned in the last year how to be confident and how not to be scared," she says. "I guess what makes me confident is that I keep going. I'm not as bothered by [rejection] as I used to be."
For this year's audition, Bishop recorded covers of "Love the Way You Lie (Part II)" by Rihanna and "Momma's Broken Heart" by Miranda Lambert, who ties with Shania Twain as one of her biggest influences.
By watching concert videos of Twain and Lambert, Christa says, she learned to cock her hip on stage and exude a bit of sass. That newfound spirit was enough to see her selected for one of the semifinal's two wild card slots, she says.
"When you have an attitude when you're performing, people are more interested and involved in what you're doing," she says. "When I walk around school and places, I'm very humble and can be shy and everything, but when I get on stage, I evolve into this woman with an attitude and a style and all that good stuff."
Mast says that she's worked with Bishop in the last year to hone the technical aspects of her vocals, but her greatest strength is her ability to tap into her emotions when she sings.
"Sometimes, that's hard for a person because some of us are guarded and don't show that, but ... Christa came in doing that," Mast says. "That's amazing."
If she wins, Bishop says it would be "a dream come true" but, even if her run falls short again, she says she's already feeling even more confident by the experience.
"If I make it that far, I know I'm doing something right," she says. "That will boost my confidence 100 times more than it already has been."
Contact Casey Phillips at cphillips@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6205. Follow him on Twitter at @PhillipsCTFP.