Will this new Abilene resident be the next 'American Idol'? (2024)

Ryan Seacrest has seen her engagement ring. His loss, you know.

And Lionel Ritchie, Katy Perry and Luke Bryan have heard her sing. Bryan told her she comes across as "two percent too much."

That's a compliment, considering the source.

What more could Courtney Penry want?

How about being named this year's American Idol?

Don't fence her in

Penry is a newcomer to Abilene, marrying Seth Fleming, a B-1 engine mechanic stationed at Dyess Air Force Base, in December. Both are from Houston, where they met and fell head over boot heels for each other.

After she dated his best friend.

Now she's in Abilene, a big change for the city girl.

Will this new Abilene resident be the next 'American Idol'? (1)

On Wednesday, she will be singing for Bryan, Perry and Ritchie as the first week of "American Idol" rolls out. Will she earnher Gold Ticket to Hollywood Week? We'll have to watch to find out, but after spending an hour with her Tuesday, she's to be reckoned with.

Penry, 25,tried out for "American Idol" when she was 17. She sailed along until her ship ran aground in Hollywood.

Eight years later, she tried again.

She's pretty country, but don't fence her in with a genre.

"I''m country, jazz, rock ... I even rap a little," she said. "I'm Carrie Underwood and the next minute a little Beyoncé."

Maybe a little Steven Tyler here and there, and not just the blackhair she enjoys flipping.

"Everything under the sun. I stand proudly in that. I don't want to be pigeon-holed," she said. "That's what's great about being an independent artist."

The album she is making, with a working title of "A Real Mix-Tape," will feature all original material, each a different genre.

Her singing goes back to fourth grade. She was in choir (soprano) throughmiddle school and high school. Her first public appearance on stage,however,came in a school play, when admittedly she wasn't much of a singer.

"I was a tree," she said, laughing.

When she was in high school, she auditioned for "Idol" in Austin.

Her family was moving her older sister to UT, and she said there was an audition. That sounded more fun thanmoving boxes and clothes, so she asked her dad to drop her off. He did the usual dad grousing but agreed.

"By golly," she said, "I got through."

She advanced to sing before judges Tyler, Randy Jackson and Jennifer Lopez and was granted her ticket to Hollywood. There, she washed out in the group round.

"I wasn't ready," she said.

And that was that.

"I wasn't going to try again," she said. "I was done with 'Idol.'"

Will this new Abilene resident be the next 'American Idol'? (2)

Penry, too, went to Austin to attend the University of Texas, where she lived her "Pitch Perfect" dream and founded an all-female a cappella group. She began writing songs again, something she had put aside.

Her degree? Communication studies. With a do-over, she'd go the music route, she said.

She has a Longhorns emblem on her Scion, which she now drives around Abilene.

Eight years later

"I've grown so much," Penry said, comparing her "Idol" venture as a teen and the one that launched last year. That's emotionally, vocally and even spiritually.

"I've come a long way," she said. "I know what it takes now."

She auditioned in Houston last summer, performingher own song, an upbeat country-rocker called"Hair Flip,"and advanced to the judges' round in, of all places, Cour d'Alene, Idaho, in the fall.

"Heaven on earth!" Perry called this picturesque but out-of-the-wayplace.

Penry agreed.

She hit the trio of judges with Chris Stapleton's "Parachute," which is daring for a female singer considering Stapleton's full-throttle raspy way of singing. Shefollowed with Little Big Town's "Girl Crush," slowing it down and showcasingher feminine side.

"I let them believe I was a country artist," she said laughing.

Was she star-struck?

"Only with Katy Perry. That is my girl, right there. She keeps it real with her music," Penry said. "I'm a big fan. Some just say that but I mean it."

Will this new Abilene resident be the next 'American Idol'? (3)

The judges try to make a contestant comfortable, she said, "but it's still intimidating."

So when the going gets tough, Penry gets "loud and obnoxious." At least for this.

After hello, she addressed Perry right off, telling how much she was a fan and flipping her hair.

"I was confident, Courtney Penry style," she said.

We'll see if that worked.

Oh, she met up again with Seacrest, the show host whom she met herfirst go-round. She was all about him at age 17, but this time she had her own man. She showed off her ring to him.

"Our reunion," Penry said, smiling. She has her airman, now.

Now she's small town

"Married an L.A. doll and brought her to this small town
Now she's small town just like me."

- John Mellencamp, "Small Town"

Penry is settling into the Abilene-Clyde metropolis.

New place to live, newly married, none of the regular gigs she had in Houston.

"It's scary, leaving everything," she said."It has been a culture shock. But I mean that in the best possible way."

The couple was invited to one of those famous West House backyard cookouts with fire pits.She described the setting as "backwoods."

But she meant that in best possible way. In fact, her"Idol" watch party will be there.

She has met musicians andproducersand has started getting plugged into the local music scene. She is recording her album at Notion Sound Studio in Clyde andhas been filming a video to go with "Time For a Change," including her new favorite place for coffee, Monks.

KBCY midday personality Terry Diamond will debut "Time For a Change" at noon Monday (99.7 FM).

"I never have enjoyed the creative process more. It's so real and genuine. I just love it," Penrysaid.

She wanted to compete for the Abilene Idol title but missed the audition date. She hopes to line up some singing gigs and put together the Courtney Penry Band.

"I was destined to come to Abilene," she said.

Aaron Watson comes through

After we talked, took a few photos and recorded a bit of hersingle "Time For a Change," Courtney posted about our Tuesday meeting downtown.

'We talked 'Idol,' my new single #TimeForaChange, Aaron Watson and my new life in Abilene as a married woman!" she wrote on social media.

Courtney and Seth are big fans of Abilene's resident country starAaron Watson, whom she never has met. Seth proposed to Courtney on a Houston dance floor with Watson's "These Boots Have Roots" playing.

More:Abilene's Aaron Watson back home, still keepin' it 100 percent Texas

"These old boots want nothing more than to walk you down the aisle
These old boots have roots."

Yeah, girls, awwwww ...

I took her photo against Calina Mishay's mural off Pine Street that borrows from Watson's song "Big Lovein Small Town."

Will this new Abilene resident be the next 'American Idol'? (4)

A few hours after her post, Courtney got this tweet: "Love it! Good luck!!!!. You got this!!!!"

From AW.

"I'm so happy I could burst!" she texted me.

Maybe big dreams in a small town will be her theme.

After all, she already has a motto: "Two percent too much."

We'll see how she fares starting at 7 p.m. Wednesday on KTXS.

@Twitter: @GregJaklewicz

Will this new Abilene resident be the next 'American Idol'? (5)

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