On the road to making it big: 6 up-and-coming local artists

The Cape Girardeau music scene offers a diverse mix of local and touring bands through Tunes at Twilight, the Shipyard Music and Culture Festival and other events. But let's not forget where those acts started.

With the help of Shawn Wood of Cape G Rocks Concert Series and Bruce Zimmerman, who with his wife selects acts for Tunes at Twilight, we've compiled a list of a few artists — all with Southeast Missouri ties — on the verge of making it big.

Everyone starts somewhere, and these talented performers started here.

Jessie Ritter

Jessie Ritter

__Singer-songwriter__

__Hometown:__ Southeast Missouri

__Genre:__ Country/folk

__Band:__ Solo artist

Jessie Ritter — a graduate of Notre Dame Regional High School in Cape Girardeau — returned home July 2018 for a release party at Keller's in honor of her first full-length album, "Coffee Every Morning."

After being crowned champion during last year's annual Nash Next competition at Wildhorse Saloon in Nashville, Tennessee, Ritter told the Southeast Missourian in October she isn't sure what her immediate future holds. But she hopes her music gains traction "and even more recognition than we have already."

"Other than that, I'm not sure what the year looks like, but I know we will release a single to radio, and the label will back that and help me get it out there," Ritter said.

Bendigo Fletcher

Andrew Shupert

__Guitarist__

__Hometown:__ Cape Girardeau

__Genre:__ Folk rock

__Band:__ Bendigo Fletcher (with Ryan Anderson, Chris Weis, Conner Powell)

Bendigo Fletcher has "a resolute ruggedness that recalls the Kentucky landscape that inspired it," states the website for Bendigo Fletcher, a band based in Louisville, Kentucky.

Shawn Wood said she came across the band after another artist recommended them for a show in Cape Girardeau, "before they get too big," she said.

"To me, they're kind of indie-folk. Great date night music, very easy listening, they're just very calming. And their songs, their lyrics, are good. Give them a listen."

The band's next EP "Memory Fever" is set to debut Sept. 20.

Bendigo Fletcher performs alongside Small Stares (Caleb R. Davis) from 7 to 10:30 p.m. Wednesday at The Yacht Club within Port Cape Girardeau.

Nicky Hines

Nicky Hines

__Guitarist and composer__

__Hometown:__ Cape Girardeau

__Genre:__ Country, pop-rock, R&B, blues, soul

__Band:__ Solo artist

Bruce Zimmerman said he noticed Nicky Hines — aka Nicky V — had talent and "a lot of potential" early on.

"Some of the guys, like Doug Rees and myself, we kind of took him under our wing," Zimmerman said. "But he really put in the work. By the time he got out of high school, he was getting really good. ... He's mastered a lot of styles."

Hines is working as a touring musician, educator and studio musician. At age 18, he earned a scholarship to the Musicians Institute and moved to Hollywood. He's also worked for Carnival Cruise Lines.

Hines recently released his debut original guitar solo album, "Chain of Lights."

Maggie Thorn

Maggie Thorn

__Singer-songwriter__

__Hometown:__ Bloomfield, Missouri

__Genre:__ Country

__Band:__ Maggie Thorn, Tony Thorn

Maggie Thorn, a 2012 graduate of Bloomfield High School, said her career really took off after winning the Mid-South Fair Talent Contest. She won a trip to Hollywood, where she performed on "The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson.

"Since then, I perform regularly at local events, clubs, wineries, charities and other venues all over, which includes, Missouri, Tennessee, Arkansas, Illinois, Wisconsin and Maryland," she said.

Her latest project, "The Other Side," was released in 2017.

"I told stories I thought needed to be told," she said of the CD. "I'm not as worried about radio play or things like that. Of course, I'm still traveling, singing and hoping and taking every opportunity that is given to me."

In 2017, she was hospitalized for more than a month with a collapsed lung.

Thorn performs at 6:30 p.m. today at Tunes at Twilight at Ivers Square in downtown Cape Girardeau.

Uncle Lame Bake

Uncle Lame Bake

__Hometown:__ Delta

__Genre:__ Heavy indie blues

__Band:__ Uncle Lame Bake (Caleb Amelunke, guitar/vocals; Austin Alexander, bass/vocals; Alex Amelunke, drums/vocals)

Caleb Amelunke, Austin Alexander and Alex Amelunke formed the group (previously Old School Hype) in high school. Now based in Denver, the band recently changed its name to Uncle Lame Bake.

Zimmerman said the group shows a lot of promise from the times he's seen it perform.

According to the band's biography, their interests include playing heavy indie blues, sleeping and "impressing the elderly with their knowledge of '60s and '70s rock 'n' roll." Turnoffs: "writing band biographies and being asked if they have ever considered competing on 'America's Got Talent.'"

"They really went back to American roots music," Zimmerman said. "They went back and got a lot of the basics of old blues songs and rock 'n' roll songs from the '60s."

Lydia Gentry

Lydia Gentry (Dragoness), from Cape Girardeau

__Electric violinist__

__Hometown:__ Cape Girardeau

__Genre:__ Symphonic rock

__Band:__ Solo artist

Gentry performs in downtown Cape Girardeau at coffee shops, farmers markets and even on the streets. She's released two singles, "Subdivisions" and "Limelight," both originally performed by Rush.

She recently completed her debut EP, "Exit 99," a mix of original and cover songs.

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