Grand Ole Tryouts-by Amanda Kazdoy Tom McBryde, Dollywood’s musical director, said it best when he told me that every bus that comes through Nashville has a few musicians on it. “I just don’t see how they do it. They come here with 40 bucks and a guitar.” The Tennessee Repertory studio in Nashville on January 31 was certainly a veritable bus depot. Appropriately, Music City was one of the several major audition spots on Dollywood’s first-ever nationwide recruitment campaign, which included tryouts in Atlanta, and Cincinnati. Pigeon Forge, Tenn.— where Dollywood is located and where Dolly Parton and her family hail from—was also on the roster. That location enjoyed the largest turnout, says Paul Couch, the park’s entertainment director. These auditions will provide casting for Dollywood’s two new shows and its cachet of street performers. The nondescript building where the auditions took place was right out of the famous audition scene from Flashdance. A dusty front room was littered with cardboard cutouts, props, paint cans, and other accoutrements that suggest theater set design. The queuing line began here and went on, seemingly forever, to the audition room, where groups of 25 were ushered in to wait their turn to perform before the ominous long table of judges. Couch and Clare Lewis, the entertainment supervisor, were pleased with the Nashville turnout of Dollywood hopefuls. As one might expect, singers abound here, and for many of them, old-fashioned country music, bluegrass, and folk music are in their blood. The process was cut and dry: Each person was given two minutes and, at least at the beginning of the day, two numbers, to perform. If a singer gave an exemplary performance, he or she would get a “callback,” which usually meant showing Couch and Lewis if the performer could dance. If that phase went well, the performer would come back to sing again. Couch and Lewis did this from 11 a.m. until 9 p.m., which, Couch says, “wasn’t that late, really.” He says he wouldn’t be surprised if the park hires at least 150 staff members this year. And he expects 10 percent to be new hires. The Contenders Some had binders of material held close to their chests, many were fresh out of high school, a few were auditioning as a group, several lugged equipment, but all of them couldn’t wait to get in there and show off. Not least of all Connie “Tootsie Rose” Freeman, a middle-aged woman who is more than familiar with attending auditions. “I’ve learned that no matter how old you are or wherever you are, you use the talents God has given you and you put it out there, and you just show up,” she says, looking skyward. Freeman performed on a local television show in Jackson, Tenn., when she was a little girl. From there, she went on to perform at Opryland, Silver Dollar City, Celebration City, and in Branson, Mo. Needless to say, Freeman does a bit of traveling. “That’s the life of a gypsy,” she says. “Today the way the world is, you really have to follow what’s in your heart. And I’ll move around until God puts me in one place.” Freeman ultimately hopes to start her own children’s program with her signature character—Tootsie Rose—who would teach spiritual concepts to children. This kind of enthusiasm wasn’t scarce at the Tennessee Repertory studio that day. Singer Shannon Johnson, a wife and mother, and her husband, Brad, practically had their bags packed, ready to move to Pigeon Forge. “I even brought my cloggin’ shoes, so if they wanna break out, I’m ready,” she says in a thick country twang. Johnson admitted to being nervous, but she was clearly just itching to dance. “This line’s a little long; I just want to run right up there and smile and say ‘Here I am,’ and break a dance or two.” There was also no shortage of folks with musical theater backgrounds. Dollywood is famous for its roots country performances, but there’s plenty of theater, too, and having a dramatic background can’t hurt. Steve Boysen, a recent graduate of Belmont University and a native of Nashville, was more than prepared for his two minutes. Standing toward the front of the line just before noon, he was clutching a four-inch-thick binder full of material. “I have a whole book of stuff here. It’s mostly Broadway stuff. I’ve got Les Mis, Evita, etc.” Maybe he knew something the rest of them didn’t. Most of the contenders had narrowed their choices to two or three songs and crossed their fingers, hoping they’d get a callback. Alas, he admits: “I have no idea what to expect.” Others came from farther afield for their chance at semi-stardom. Allen Goyne, a guitar player from Reedley, Calif., has become disheartened with the dwindling country music scene back in the Central Valley of California, where some of his idols—Buck Owens and Merle Haggard—got their start. “The country music scene in California has just dried up,” he says. “And there are very few places to play music, and I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that the laws have changed where you can’t smoke in bars anymore. I don’t know what happened. People just don’t seem to like our music anymore. Some bands are fighting over places to play. It’s tough.” But lack of opportunity in the Central Valley isn’t the only reason Goyne has found himself in Nashville. “It’s really beautiful here.” After filling out her paperwork, Alison Bersetti, clad in a leotard and ballet shoes, uses the long wait as an opportunity to stretch before her ballet number. And like many others waiting in line, Alison is ready for anything Couch and Lewis might want to see. “The dance I’m going to do is more like ballet, but I know they’re going to give us show jazz type of choreography, so I’m ready.” The Nashville Scene By 12:30 p.m. 70 people had signed up, and 25 had already given their two minutes. Out of these, six performers had been called back. “The talent here is very good,” Lewis says. “I just wish we had enough spots. The number of talented people grows faster than our entertainment can keep up with.” But from where I’m standing, that’s a good problem to have. The only difficulty with holding these auditions in Nashville is that there’s quite a disparity between the number of singers versus musicians and variety acts, such as magic and juggling. “We’re growing our ‘streetmosphere’ program,” she says. “Folks like that add a lot of charm to the park.” Couch agreed that the turnout was astounding and the talent top-notch, but he was worried about the performers’ willingness to relocate to East Tennessee. “People come to Nashville to be in Nashville.” Couch’s fears about relocation were quickly allayed as the talented singers, dancers, and musicians began rolling in. “The quality here is consistently higher; we’re really encouraged by what we’re seeing.” And what they were seeing was hours upon hours of Patsy Cline, Tammy Wynette, Bonnie Raitt, Martina McBride, Reba McEntire, Alan Jackson, and on and on. There were even some brave souls who sang sans music, and others who wore flashy costumes or loud tap shoes. One man was bold enough to perform “She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy” by Kenny Chesney, a well-sung number that received a few chuckles from the other performers. And just before one young man displayed his yodeling technique, Couch quizzed him on his stint as a dead soldier at Paramount’s Carowinds after scanning his resume. Several duets made their way to the studio, one of which included a virtuosic fiddle player. One of the more outstanding performers who got a callback to dance was Cassie Pendley, who blew everyone away with her version of Patsy Cline’s “Crazy,” a popular choice among the contenders. “You get nervous, but I use it as energy,” she says. “You just pretend you’re at home in front of the mirror. Dollywood’s two new shows this year are Country Crossroads and Dolly’s brother Randy Parton’s Country Heart and Soul. The former will be a “real” country show that will celebrate music from Tennessee, Couch says. The music will feature country favorites—the Carter family, Jimmie Rodgers, George Jones, Tammy Wynette, and Patsy Cline. And Randy Parton’s and his daughter Heidi’s show will include roots country, but also first-class backup singers, “a killer country band,” and a high-tech presentation of still and moving images, telling the story of the Parton family legacy. Having Direction Also sitting behind the intimidating long table was McBryde, who lives in Nashville and arranges the music for Dollywood’s production shows, as well as the songs that musicians will play. “I work with the producers and the directors and choreographers to make it all happen,” he says. McBryde is remarkably efficient during the auditions. Once a guitarist sits on the stool and begins tuning, picking, or strumming, McBryde will approach him or her with a number of requests. “I’m getting a feel for his versatility,” he says. “We play different kinds of music at Dollywood, especially at Christmas. I need people who play different styles. But I also like to see how accomplished they are, and whether or not they have command of their instrument.” Well, no doubt drummer B.J. Anckner possessed all of the aforementioned qualifications. The young man responded to each of McBryde’s assignments immediately and effortlessly—a straight pop beat, a jazz waltz, a train beat, and a 50s shuffle, which Anckner had to sightread. And he did. Perfectly. “Now that’s a guy I could use,” McBryde said as we walked back to the long table. Other than Anckner, McBryde was impressed with an electric guitarist and another drummer, both of whom displayed excellent sight-reading skills and range in styles. By about 2 p.m. McBryde had seen about three musicians he would hire, which, surprisingly, was a smaller ration than he’d seen in Cincinnati, just a week before. “We saw a lot of different instruments,” he said about Cincinnati. “We had a lot of piano, woodwind, brass. They seemed more experienced and accomplished in style.” Nonetheless, McBryde is confident there will be enough people hired to fill their available slots for the coming seasons. Unfortunately, those musicians don’t know their odds at the moment. Dollywood is going through a bit of a transition. One of its shows will be using recorded tracks instead of live musicians for operational and scheduling reasons. So many of those displaced musicians are the park’s priority. “I’ve got guys over there who are hoping to get their jobs back, and who we have first loyalty to,” he says. “But we need a bank of people we can draw from. And during the summer we have specialty shows where we need people for a few weeks.” McBryde agreed with Lewis’s sentiment that there seems to be a higher volume of singers than anyone else auditioning in Nashville. Even Denise McGrath, the freelance choreographer, wasn’t expecting a large number of dancers to come out of the Nashville area (she’d seen only five dancers by mid-afternoon). But at least Nashville’s reputation as being the country music capital wasn’t diminished on this Saturday afternoon. “We haven’t had any real terrible people where you just cringe. So that’s good. It makes it a more pleasant day for us.”