Omak singer named Byway Idol

SOAP LAKE — After listening to 11 singers perform Saturday night, many of the 450 audience members cast their votes for Omak singer/songwriter Scott Smith.

Smith, 31, was named first annual Byway Idol and “King of the Road.”

The contest was mirrored after the popular TV show “American Idol,” where contestants perform and compete for prizes.

Smith received $5,000 in cash and prizes by singing Jason Aldean’s “She’s Country.”

Moses Lake music teacher Denise Jordan Krober, 27, placed second in the competition with her performance of Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You.” She won $2,500 in cash and prizes.

The Byway Idol contest was part of the Coulee Corridor Consortium’s annual “Big Event” fund-raiser and was held at the Soap Lake Middle School/High School.

The consortium works to gain support for the Coulee Corridor National Scenic Byway’s development. The corridor stretches from Omak to Othello.

Money earned from the fund-raiser is used for organization’s general expenses, said consortium Chairman Tim Alling. The total amount of money raised wasn’t available.

After being named winner and while having his photo taken by a young girl with a cellphone camera, Smith said he sings for a living.

He worked with handicapped people for 10 years and decided it was time to take leap to a musical career.

He found he was able to make money from singing. Last summer, he opened for Canadian country music band Emerson Drive at the North Central Washington Fair.

This summer he will return to the fair and open for country singer Bucky Covington.

Last year, he shot a music video in California and it ran on the Great American Country Network and Country Music Television.

He’s the current country champion on famecast.com. The Web site describes itself as “the home of online contests where music fans discover new artists and vote for them to win career-launching opportunities.”

Second-place contestant Jordan Krober said she didn’t know how she would spend her prize money, but does plan on getting a massage.

“I thought I sang well, but I didn’t know,” she says. “There was a lot of great competition.”

She teaches kindergarten through fifth-grade music at Discover Elementary School in Moses Lake.

Other performers were: Coulee Dam singer Barry Black, Almira salesman Jason Evers, Soap Lake barista Clara Karras, Ephrata High School senior AJ Longo, 2005 Miss Moses Lake Stephanie Martinez, Nespelem rancher Dave McClure, Grand Coulee Dam tour guide Kayla Newland, Michelle Storry, a Hartline mom and church worship leader and Grant County 9-1-1 dispatcher Helen Terry.