Photo by Greg Wood
Aspiring singer/songwriter Kendall Parrott sings at Big Mama's. She says she hopes her participation in the Karaoke World Championship will be the break she needs for her music career.
Photo by Greg Wood
Alecia Phan performs at Big Mama's Karaoke Cafe in Seymour.
Photo by Greg Wood
Aspiring singer/songwriter Kendall Parrott sings at Big Mama's. She says she hopes her participation in the Karaoke World Championship will be the break she needs for her music career.
Photo by Greg Wood
Guest judge Marcus Hardy, a finalist on 'Last Comic Standing,' takes the stage to sing a Journey song.
Photo by Greg Wood
Stand-up comedian MarcusHardy, left, a guest judge at Big Mama's, takes a break from the action with Addiel Cortes.
KNOXVILLE — Forget “American Idol.”
Knoxville’s got its own talent, and that talent is showcased weekly at Big Mama’s Karaoke Café in Seymour.
The venue is registered in the Karaoke World Championship. That’s not a typo: World Championship. And right now the contest is still in the local rounds.
Every Wednesday night Big Mama’s, which is run by Chartbusters (the largest karaoke company in the world), has an “American Idol”-esque contest. Competitors enter for a $10 fee, which weeds out less serious vocalists (and at least theoretically spares embarrassment) and sing two songs in front of a live audience and panel of judges. At the end of the evening a male and female winner are both chosen, and in the coming months they will return to the next round of the tournament.
The competition finals take place in Finland this August.
And Big Mama’s doesn’t fail to deliver. Looking like a Hard Rock Café vomited its décor onto a Chuckie Cheese, it’s the Ryman Auditorium of karaoke setup with a Gatlinburg kitsch.
According to marketing representative Dereke Ashe, the setup is “light years beyond your typical karaoke setup,” featuring full concert lighting and audio. The sound engineers worked extensively on sound distribution so it comes equally from everywhere and no particular section is too loud.
“No matter where you’re sitting, you’re going to have great sound there,” Ashe says. And he’s right — the mix is equal in all parts of the bar. It’s loud, but not too loud to speak over. It’s fun, but not abrasive.
Furthermore, the venue has a selection of 13,000 songs to choose from. “If you can think of it, we have it,” says PR representative David Grimes of their song selection.
This variety is crucial to the competition. Judge Addiel Cortes, a former contest winner and “American Idol” contestant, says “song selection is everything.” The judges have strict criteria they go by, judging vocal quality, rhythm and tempo, vocal expression, stage presence and entertainment value, but if you aren’t choosing the right songs, you may as well sit down.
“After the first round we know if you can sing or not” says guest judge Marcus, a finalist on NBC’s “Last Comic Standing” competition this past year. “In the second round it’s all about song selection.”
And with the enormous catalog came a (slightly awkward) diversity on a recent Wednesday night. Groups like Sugarland are popular favorites, with a large selection of country music being common. Contestants strayed away from more traditional rock music (except a woman named Rachael Jimmerson, who chose Sweet’s rocker “Ballroom Blitz,” reminiscent of Cassandra from “Wayne’s World”) and occasionally delved into pop along the lines of Justin Timberlake.
Music hailing from the ’70s on was all represented, which likely was due in part to the age range. Most contestants were in their 20s it seemed, but there were a handful in their 30s, 40s and 50s.
Among the diversity in age comes diversity in intention, with contestants partaking for various reasons.
For example, Raymond Whiteman, a tenor gentleman in his 40s, used to work in the karaoke industry and has a system in his house. He heard the ad for the competition on local radio station 103.5 and decided to head down. He’s in it for fun strictly. “Any breaks from it would be great,” he says of the competition, but reiterates it’s just fun to him.
On the other hand, 20-year-old Kendall Parrott is an aspiring singer and songwriter who recently recorded at Big Mama’s and heard of the competition. She’s a student at Pellissippi from South Knoxville who has taken the semester off to focus on singing and writing music, and this competition is the kind of break she’s looking for.
Kendall chose to sing Norah Jones’ “Don’t Know Why” during the first round and Reba McEntire’s “Fancy” the next round, saying she practices each song “10 to 15 times” before performing. Her seriousness about the competition is evident with her throng of supporters sitting at a table with her, including her parents.
And her dedication turned out not to be overkill, as she was that evening’s female winner and moves on to the next round of the tournament.
Contestants who don’t win are still eligible to partake in future competitions during the local tournament.
The Karaoke World Championship Tournament is Wednesday nights at 7 p.m. at Big Mama’s Karaoke Café in Seymour.
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