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  • TC Central grad Mandy Alexander returns to Traverse City to perform at a free concert Saturday, April 14. Special to the Record-Eagle

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April 6, 2012

Homecoming concert sweet — and free

Mandy Alexander is having a blast in Nashville

By MARTA HEPLER DRAHOS mdrahos@record-eagle.com

TRAVERSE CITY — Mandy Alexander no longer has any doubts that moving to Nashville was the right thing to do for her career.

The 2001 Traverse City Central grad is making her voice — and her face — known in "Music City."

"She's getting well placed in Nashville," said Carey Carlson, of WTCM Radio. "She's down there working with some big names."

Alexander has opened for Bo Bice, Trace Adkins, Kellie Pickler and Andy Griggs in some of Nashville's legendary venues. She's also been in videos with Dierks Bentley, Alan Jackson and Brad Paisley and performed on stage with Jackson at the 2008 CMA Awards.

But the biggest name of all may be best known by Michigan's neighbors to the north. Alexander landed the lead role in "Fire it Up," the new music video of Canadian blues and country singer Johnny Reid. Reid is the reigning Canadian Country Music Association Male Artist of the Year and winner of the 2011 Juno award for Country Album of the Year.

"It's been amazing living here," said Alexander, who visited Nashville about 20 times before moving there in 2005 at age 22. "Sometimes I wake up and say, 'Is this really my life?'"

The country-blues artist will return home to open WTCM's Loyal Listener Party slated for Saturday, April 14, at Streeters. The show also will feature country "up-and-comer" Kelly Parkes and Canadian country artist Marlee Scott.

"It's a party, it's a concert, with all sorts of dancing and surprises for the evening," said Carlson, who has been helping pass out 750 free tickets at places like Art Van and Honor Building Supply. "It's a way of saying thanks to our listeners. It's fun to have Mandy opening up the show since she's a hometown girl."

Carlson said the station will have two more giveaways — Saturday, April 7, beginning at 10 a.m. at Shooters in Grawn, and Tuesday, April 10, beginning at noon at Ace Buyers in Traverse City. Those who miss out on tickets can catch the music of all three singers on Carlson's "The Back Burner" radio show on Sunday, April 8, at 6 p.m.

Both shows will feature songs from Alexander's newly recorded and as yet unnamed debut EP, which includes a duet with CMT's "Next Superstar" runner-up Steven Clawson. The Traverse City native hopes the EP leads to even bigger things on Nashville's Music Row.

"The music industry has changed so much that getting a record deal doesn't mean that much anymore. But being a successful country artist on a major label would be nice," she said.

Meanwhile, the Streeters show will be a reunion of sorts for Alexander, who met Bobby Pinson guitarist Tony Lopacinski at a show there the summer before she moved.

"I asked him if he had any advice for me and he said, 'You must be present to win,'" Alexander recalled. "Then he said, 'Why don't you sing for me now?' so I sang to him in the parking lot. A week later he was sending songs from Nashville. He was the last motivator I needed to move there."

Though Lopacinski died in 2011, Alexander plans to invite another of her biggest influences: Jeffrey Cobb, former choral director at Traverse City Central, where Alexander sang in musicals and choirs under her given name, Mandy Foulon.

"I'm so excited to do this show," she said. "It's kind of like a thank-you to people who have been with me since day one."

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