The 2017 Country Radio Seminar took place last week at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville Tennessee, and two American Idol alums, country music careers ascending, performed for the assembled crowd of media and radio programmers.
Lauren Alaina was the runner-up to the American Idol season 10 winner Scotty McCreery in 2011. The debut album she released a few months later gained no traction. But UMG Nashville didn’t give up on her, developing the young singer like new talent. Her long-awaited sophomore set, Road Less Traveled, tells frank stories about her unconventional family life and struggles with an eating disorder.
The singer was chosen as one of iHeart Radio’s On The Verge artists last year, and subsequently, the title track from her album, co-written with Meghan Trainor, has climbed to No. 11 on the country airplay.
Here she is on Thursday (Feb 23) performing another song from the new album, the emotional “Three.” The crowd gave her a standing ovation.
Big Machine Label Group’s luncheon took place Friday (Feb 24) where Trent Harmon performed a set short set. Among the songs he sang was a new, unreleased tune called “Her.”
About the song, Trent told the crowd a PG version of the story: “Over the last two years, I have had to be in situations and make decisions on my feet that I’ve never had to in my whole life — in my whole life. Fortunately, I have had the same young lady as my ‘lady friend’ for the last six years, and the last two years, with being on Idol, I’ve had to deal with some stuff — uh, let’s put it out there, I had to deal with telling folks, ‘No. No, I’m good, I’m good, you don’t have to come hang out with me tonight, believe me, I am good.’ And, uh, I wrote a song about it.”
Meanwhile, The American Idol 15 winner’s current single, “There’s a Girl” hit the Top 20 on the Country Airplay chart. “Her” is rumored to be Trent’s next single. The singer recently released a self-titled EP featuring “There’s a Girl” and several favorite covers performed on American Idol.
Watch Trent Harmon perform an acoustic version of “Her.” After the a capella bridge, the crowd erupted into cheers. The performanced ended to a standing ovation.
