Three from Southeast Missouri enter first round of country music video contest

Three people with Southeast Missouri ties were among the 64 chosen by Country Music Television to participate in the Music City Madness 2 competition, which pairs original music videos against one another and allows the public to vote on them.

When Dustin Finch, 23, originally of Fredericktown, Mo., learned about the competition, he and his twin brother, Brandon, planned on recording a song they had written. Four days before the competition, Finch woke up with the idea for a new song and wrote it within a half an hour.

"I had all the words just lock in my head," he said.

When he played it for his brother and his girlfriend, they felt like they might have a winner.

The theme of the song "Lifetime" was based on "everyday life" and inspired by Finch's recent struggle to beat cancer, he said.

Finch and his brother moved to Nashville, Tenn., eight months ago to pursue their dreams of singing and songwriting.

"I'm proud because I'm the one that took them to the pawn shop to get their first instruments," said Philip Mayabb, the twins' uncle.

Casie Janet, 22, of Cape Gir?ardeau was also selected as a contestant in the competition for a video of "Don't Tell Me Goodbye," which she said was shot the day before contest entries were due.

A friend of hers wrote the song and asked for her input before she recorded it, she said.

"I kind of made it my own," Janet said.

The song chronicles a couple in love and the times in the man's life where he's forced to leave his partner. The video is shot at various locations in and around Murray, Ky., where Janet is a senior in a nursing program.

"Since the song tells a story, we kind of wanted to take people through the lyrics," Janet said.

Janet said though she would "welcome a music career with open arms," her focus right now is graduating in May, becoming a nurse practitioner and moving back to Cape Girardeau.

"She's on cloud nine," said her father, Chris Janet.

On weekends, Janet performs at Variety, Music, Memories and More, a Branson-style family show venue in Grand Rivers, Ky.

Voting for the first round of the contest concludes Monday. The grand prize is an all-expense-paid trip to CMT's Nashville studio to record an episode of "Unplugged at Studio 330," according to the competition Web site. The winner will also perform his or her own showcase for A&R executives from Sony/BMG Nashville.

In the first Music City Madness competition, CMT received more than 600 submissions. Votes for this year's contest can be cast at www.cmt.com/interact/music_city_madness/vote/.

bdicosmo@semissourian.com

335-6611 extension 245

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