Thanks for having me out to judge at the semi-finals, it was great. I thought it went very smooth. Actually the thing that struck me was how quiet the audience was (in a good way), they paid attention because they had a voice in picking the winner.The only advice I'd give would be to keep doing what you are doing!

Shawn Bowling, Membership Manager for Nashville Songwriter's Association International and Producer of Tin Pan South

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PUCKETT'S RISING STAR OVERVIEW:
Puckett's Rising Star is a singer-songwriter open mic contest open to anyone.
Puckett's Rising Star is a 9 week series, with 7 preliminary events, a semi-final and a final.
The event is held on Tuesdays at 8PM at Puckett's Grocery on 4th Ave South in Franklin, Tennessee.

PUCKETT'S RISING STAR 8 SCHEDULE:
Prelim 1- July 6, 2010
Prelim 2- July 13, 2010
Prelim 3- July 20, 2010
Prelim 4- July 27, 2010
Prelim 5- August 3, 2010
Prelim 6- August 10, 2010
Prelim 7- August 17, 2010
Semi-Final- August 24, 2010
Final- August 31, 2010

NEW SPONSOR!
Heineken Beer has jumped in and is now sponsoring Rising Star! Thanks Heineken Beer!

NEW FOR RISING STAR 8!
We have a new cash prize for the winner of each preliminary event, courtesy of our sponsor, Heneken Beer!
The judges pick wins a $50 VISA Gift card, and the audience pick wins a $25 VISA Gift card!

PUCKETT'S RISING STAR EVENT INFO:
• No advance registrations accepted.

• Registration for each preliminary event opens at 7PM the day of each event.

• There is time for 24 songwriters at each preliminary event, if there are more than 24 who sign up, we will guarantee them a spot at the next preliminary event, if they arrive by 6:00PM to let us know they are there and sign in.

• Bring your acoustic guitar that has a direct line output or pickup. We can mike an acoustic if it does not have a built in pickup, but direct out always sounds best. We'll have an 88 key Yamaha digital piano there for keyboard players. We provide the 1/4" cord and direct box and mics.

• You can perform your song at as many preliminaries as your want, or pick those that fit your schedule. However, if you win a preliminary, you cannot come to another preliminary during the same series, you must wait until the semi-final to come back and compete against other semi-finalists.

• Each songwriter performs 1 original song that they wrote. The song MUST be original and never before published by a major publisher or cut by a major artist. Co-writers are OK as long as you are the main contributor to the song. You can't perform a song if you only wrote the word, "The" and Taylor Swift wrote the rest of the song :)

• No performance tracks, the song must be performed live either on guitar or keyboard.

• You can have someone accompany you if you do not play an instrument.

• No house band provided.

• Any genre of music welcome, but country goes over the best!

• 2 preliminary winners from each of the 7 prelim events advance to the semi-finals. Audience votes for their favorite song, judges panel votes for their favorite song at each prelim. Bring your friends to vote for you! Make sure to have your friends, fans, and followers make reservations for a table, we always have a packed house!

• Semi-Finals feature 14 semi-finalists performing 2 songs each, audience selects 1 finalist, judges panel selects 3 finalists.

• Finals feature 4 songwriters performing 4 original songs in the round. Judges panel selects the grand prize winner.

• Grand Prize Winner gets $500 from Puckett's Grocery and is part of a round at Puckett's Franklin with other well known professional songwriters.

• A $5 per person cover charge applies to songwriters and attendees, which goes towards the grand prize and event expenses.

Let me know if you have any questions, and share this with your songwriter friends!
Thanks
Keith Mohr
mohr.keith@gmail.com
615.594.0426