Price invited to Texas competition

Kylie Price.
Kylie Price.
Dunedin singer Kylie Price has been invited to represent New Zealand at the Texas Sounds International Country Music Awards next month.

The 23-year-old singer-songwriter is no stranger to awards, having won the 2012 Gold Guitars overall prize, as well as a string of Australian competitions in recent years.

The invitation to Texas was a result of Price having performed at the Tamworth Country Music Festival in New South Wales in 2013, when she was named overall winner.

''Someone saw me at Tamworth and recommended the organisers of the Texas event check me out.

''I got an email from them, but I didn't take it too seriously. I thought it might have been spam.

''But I read through it and followed it up and it was legitimate.''

Held in Jefferson, East Texas, a small town of only 1800 residents that describes itself as '' as the bed and breakfast capital of Texas'', Texas Sounds is a relatively new event, having started in 2013.

The week-long competition, starting on October 13, has attracted more than 50 acts from at least 18 nations.

''I'm the only performer from New Zealand, which is pretty cool,'' Price said, adding: ''I get just one shot - a 45-minute performance.

''I don't know quite what they are looking for. I've been told the judges and audiences prefer high-energy music, perhaps a wee bit more than solo performances, so my challenge is to bring as much of that as I can without selling out, just for the sake of a competition.''

In 2012, Price withdrew from Television New Zealand's talent search programme New Zealand's Got Talent.

The then 19-year-old University of Otago music student had qualified for the semifinals of the programme, but refused to sign a contract that would have allowed the show's producers exclusive rights to her music.

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