Tonya Watts

It's a long way from Glencoe, Alabama, to Hollywood, but Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter Tonya Watts has made the voyage, and has lived the life of a troubadour. Watts grew up on a mainstay of country music that included Johnny Cash, Hank Williams Jr., David Allan Coe and Loretta Lynn, but it was Dolly Parton to whom she felt a kindred spirit. Her earliest musical memory goes back to when she was just five years old and would go around the house putting on performances of Parton's "Me and Little Andy", complete with hairbrush microphone. for her family. However, it wasn't until nearly 20 years later that her musical dreams would become a reality. Watts landed the role of Parton in Get to the Heart: The Barbara Mandrell Story (1997), and from there she realized she had a deeper connection with music than acting--in the years that followed she'd start turning heads, opening ears and touching the hearts of the audiences she played for. While Hollywood isn't what some would call a "true country market", what many don't realize is that Hollywood is the forefront of one of the best undiscovered underground country scenes that is yet to be discovered. Making the rounds all over town with fellow rebels and misfits that have included Keith Gattis (Dwight Yoakam), Dusty Wakeman (Lucinda Williams), up-and-comers including Bryson Jones of 'The Snakehandlers' and Waylon Payne--son of Grammy Award-winning artist Sammi Smith ("Help Me Make it Through the Night")--Austin Hanks (2003 Nashville Star (2003) contestant) and Travis Howard (2002 "Nashville Star" contestant). Watts has made quite the impact and has earned the praises of Hank Williams Jr. and landed major gigs including opening for Alabama and Toby Keith in front of 50,000 screaming fans in her home state of Alabama, and opening for David Allan Coe at Hollywood's Key Club in December of 2004. That's not all that this quirky little girl from Alabama has accomplished, however. She has attracted the ears of Grammy Award-winning producer Pete Anderson and is getting airplay on Watusi Rodeo 103.1 FM and Fallen Angel Radio online, and has been featured in the "Roots Highway" e-Zine. In a time where country radio is overrun with run-of-the-mill teenyboppers singing about first dates and broken hearts--subjects that the singers often know little or nothing about--Watts delivers music that country fans haven't experienced in decades.