The Northwest Ohio local finals of the 3rd Annual NASH Next competition were held Saturday, September 9 with Brent Lowry & The Drifters taking the top honors. The Pemberville, Ohio based group was competing against other local finalists that included Eric Sowers Band, Kelly Crank, Kyle Schilkey and Matt Williams.
Lowry and his band are beyond excited about where their careers have taken them over the past year including the NASH Next accolade. “I was honored to win the local finals,” Lowry admits. “It was a great competition and the boys and I were all so excited when we heard our name called.”
The next step in the NASH Next competition for the local winners is to submit a live video performance of their best original song. The top ten artists will then be selected by country music industry professionals. If selected to compete in the finals, Brent Lowry & the Drifters will travel to Nashville to compete at a live concert event where a panel of celebrity judges will choose the NASH Next 2017 winner.
“Yes, they will be selecting only a handful of the local winners from around the nation,” Lowry stated. “Just to make it to that and be part of it would be such an honor.”
The celebrity panel of judges at the NASH Next finals will include Scott Borchetta, founder, president and CEO of Big Machine Label Group and Kix Brooks, half of the country duo, Brooks & Dunn.
“I really enjoyed being part of NASH Next last year,” says Brooks. “It was truly incredible to see the level of talent who competed and to now watch the upward trajectory of Todd O’Neill, last year’s winner.”
O’Neill, the NASH Next 2016 winner, released his debut single, “Love Again,” in April and broke the Top 50 country charts in early May and his single continues to climb the charts.
The 2017 NASH Next winner, which will be announced by reigning CMA Entertainer of the Year Garth Brooks, will receive a record deal with NASH Next Records under the Big Machine Label Group, home to such superstars as Taylor Swift, Rascal Flatts and Thomas Rhett.
Brent Lowry & the Drifters will get to work on their live performance video to submit to NASH Next and will also stay busy heading back to the studio to work on some new music. The group was also honored last month to open the show for Toby Keith at the Bash on the Bay on Put-In-Bay. They will be performing their last Put-In-Bay shows of the season this weekend, September 15 & 16 at TJ’s Smokehouse.
