When I stepped foot in Hillbilly Country last week for an area singing contest, I didn’t know what to expect. I was probably as nervous as the singers preparing to perform. I always get a good chuckle from watching the American Idol auditions, and watching people who think they can sing—instead humiliate themselves. But despite how humorous it is, I still cringe and turn my head out of embarrassment for them. Some are daring hopefuls who have more useful talents then trying to serenade audiences, while others are just plain silly, and know better than to open their mouths for anything other than speaking or eating. But either way it’s painful to watch someone make a fool out of themselves. It feels like you are in that person’s shoes, and it’s happening to you.

And that’s what I was scared of last weekend’s singing contest. It was the fear of the unknown.

But the unknown turned out to be a pleasant surprise.

There were at least seven singers, and one really cool band that impressed me the night of the contest.

The band, Donnaha Station, I was familiar with and had enjoyed in other performances, but I also got to listen to some unknown singers who had real talent. Twenty-year old Brandon France captivated the crowd with a soulful rendition of R&B singer John Legend’s “Ordinary People,” Tiffany Rogers paid tribute to legendary country singer Patsy Cline with a performance of her popular ballad “Crazy,” and Jack Holt’s performance of a classic country gospel song transformed the competition into a concert as the audience, including the other contestants, sang along in unison. Kendra Dawson, 22, almost blew the other contestants away as she rocked out to “You Oughta Know” by Alanis Morissette. Her spellbinding performance seemed genuine and heartfelt, which was one of the few reasons the organizers of the contest picked her as a winner, along with Jack Holt, to appear on “Talent Search TV” premiering tonight at 11:30 p.m. on iON Television Network, which is carried locally on cable, DirecTV and over the air on Channel 16.

While I thought the performances were mostly unforgettable (in a good way), one of the best parts of the evening was speaking to almost every contestant about their dreams and aspirations, and what brought them out to the performance that night. I was impressed because many of the contestants brought truth to the familiar one-liners “It’s never to late” or “Never say never.”

While the contest was open to both signed and unsigned acts, most participants were hopefuls who had talent that had taken a back seat to other life obligations such as family, school and jobs.

Holt, who is a 40-year-old father, said he had been singing his whole life, but that God had led him a new direction with his singing—one where he wanted to spread the word of the gospel to others.

“I just want to spread the gospel, if anything comes of it, I give all the credit to Jesus, in and of myself I’m nothing, whatever comes of his will, will be,” he told me.

Dawson, who has a one-year-old daughter, seemed eager to return to the stage as a singer. Formerly in a rock band, she put motherhood before her dreams, but had reached a point where she was ready to take on both at the same time.

“I would like to make it to American Idol so everybody sees that I have talent and not just this little town of Mount Airy,” she told me.

Brandon France didn’t want to be a struggling singer who had to work odd jobs to make ends meet, so he opted to indulge his other talent professionally—photography.

In the course of almost three hours I had heard several life stories filled with goals, hardships and jobs, yet each had one common strand desire to accomplish a dormant dream. And even if it was a small portion of that goal, it was enough to say they went after it.

Whatever it is in life that we do 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., we can still find the time to squeeze moments to indulge our life aspriations—even if it’s in small doses.

We may not always get to be the big stars we’ve seen on television, but we can say we had a piece of the pie even if that’s the only piece we get.

Erin C. Perkins is a staff reporter for the Mount Airy News. She can be reached at eperkins@mtairynews.com or 719-1952.