An up-and-coming country singer from Utah will get a chance to show her stuff on national TV — and potentially win $100,000 for it.
Savannah Keyes, a 21-year-old country-pop singer originally from Sandy, is one of 21 country acts chosen for a new reality-competition show, “Real Country,” which premieres Nov. 13 on USA Network.
The three members of the show’s celebrity panel — singer-songwriter Jake Owen and Grammy-winning legends Travis Tritt and Shania Twain — each picked seven country acts, whose identities were revealed Tuesday. Keyes is on Owen’s team.
Each week, one act from each team will compete, with the winner receiving $10,000 and a performance slot at the Stagecoach country music festival in Indio, Calif., next April. The seven weekly winners will perform at Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry, vying for a $100,000 top prize.
When Keyes was 13, her YouTube videos caught the attention of Ellen DeGeneres — who put Keyes on her talk show in January 2011. Before that, according to the Internet Movie Database, she made appearances as a child extra in a 2003 episode of the TV series “Everwood” and the movie “Daddy Day Camp” (2007), both filmed in Utah.
Keyes has appeared as a host and correspondent on Radio Disney Country. Last year, she was a spokeswoman for Taylor Guitars in connection with their American Girl creation, a singer-songwriter doll named Tenney Grant.
Keyes is also a member of Song Suffragettes, a coalition of women performers and songwriters that performs weekly in The Listening Room Cafe in Nashville. The group has been outspoken about sexual assault and harassment, recording a protest song, “Time’s Up,” and a cover of Keith Urban’s #MeToo-inspired song “Female.”
A savvy social-media content producer, Keyes is on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, and occasionally records vlog posts on YouTube.