Lyman hosts a singer-songwriter competition

By Amanda Manchester, Herald Reporter

EVANSTON — “I hate to be down, but it seems like my old friends are back and they like to hear me sing a sad and lonely song,” Joe Storey lamented during his opening number at the Bridger Valley round of the Wyoming Singer-Songwriter Contest. Storey placed fourth out of nine, securing a spot in Ten Sleep’s national finals on Labor Day weekend.

The jury awarded pianist Ellie Pacheco, one half of the Rock Springs-based multi-instrumental duo Austin and Ellie, best performer and best song for “The Way We Would Go,” a song about falling in love with her first serious lover.

Veteran artist Chuck Dittman took second place and the second winning song with “Wicked Week.” Both he and third-place finisher Micah Paisley are from Green River. Paisley, who finished in the top 10 in last year’s state finals and was the only artist to play an electric instrument, bass, took third place overall with “Flip Through the Static.” Dittman’s “Cupcakes in Paris” and Pacheco’s “You Would Have Loved Him” ​​took fourth and fifth place overall.

“I was super excited today. I’ve never played these songs in public before, I was still working on them yesterday,” said Pacheco.

In the audience vote, Pacheco and Rachel Smith of Evanston were tied with Paisley, who again took third place. Smith’s songs “Villain” and “Ready to Jump” also landed at number 3 and 4 on the audience’s favorites of the day. She wrote the latter, she said, “during a pretty intense period in my life.”

With her top-three placement and as a crowd favorite, Smith earned the opportunity to perform at the Ten Sleep Festival – although not to take part in the competition.

The preliminary round on July 5 was the first of many across the state and only the second ever held in the Southwest.

“This is a spectacular country, I’m so glad we did it. It took off last year thanks to Kira,” said organization president John Gardzelewski of Lyman native Kira Dawn Walk, known by her stage name Kira Dawn, who won the state’s competition last year.

This year, Dawn served as one of three judges alongside 2022 winner Steve Davis of Green River and artist Sean Baker of Artistic Underground and Salt Lake City, Utah.

“We have diverse judges who have all proven themselves in one way or another,” Gardzelewski said. “It’s great to have Sean here because a lot of us in Wyoming know each other, but he doesn’t know any of the contestants. Sometimes we have professors who focus on lyrics, and we’ve had musicians and poets as well. We like to have a diverse group of judges, and it’s very common that the crowd favorite doesn’t win.”

Five Uinta County residents competed in the Lyman round: Storey of Fort Bridger, his sister Jacy Storey and Smith, both of Evanston, Josh Jaques of Lyman and Gaven Norris of Lonetree. Dittman, Paisley and Pacheco, all of Carbon County, and Cyliss Ragsdale of Riverton rounded out the competitors.

“I asked my family not to come, they make me nervous,” Norris, 18, a recent high school graduate, told the Herald. After his crowd-pleasing performance, however, he mentioned that he regretted his family not being there in the end.

“Each artist gets three songs, a fifteen-minute set, only one instrument (per song), and themselves. They will be judged equally on lyrics and song composition as a whole, and performance will not be taken into account,” Gardzelewski explained.

“This is so unique; they have to submit their writing,” added Catherine Johnson, board member, grant applicant and Gardzelewski’s wife. “We are a volunteer-run organization and we do it because we love it. We are funded by grants, donations and fundraising.”

The organization began in 2013 as a competition only in the Laramie area before expanding to the entire state in 2018.

Johnson later clarified: “We are increasingly requiring proof of residency in Wyoming after one of our top three winners last year was from Utah. We did not know that at the time and his prize was forfeited.”

The Wyoming Singer-Songwriting Festival at Ten Sleep features a stage in the back of an old Ford pickup truck. The weekend features songwriting workshops and live performances, often around nightly campfires at the foot of the Big Horn Mountains.

“There is just a great sense of community and a strong sense of solidarity. There is no competition, only solidarity,” said Gardzelewski.

The final round will select the top 10 contestants. This year’s winner will receive $5,000 and multiple opportunities to perform at next year’s State Fair and events such as Fridays on the Plaza in Cheyenne. Second and third place will receive $2,500 and $1,500, respectively. “Everyone is welcome to come. It’s really fun when the crowd goes wild,” Gardzelewski added.

An existing 31-minute documentary film from 2024 entitled “The Great Wyoming Singer-Songwriter Competition” can be found on the online video platform service Vimeo.

“I hope Netflix picks it up so our artists can be discovered,” Gardzelewski said.

The next preliminary rounds will be held in Casper on July 19, in Cheyenne on July 25, in Sheridan and Saratoga on August 10, and in Douglas on August 17. The final two preliminary rounds will be held in Ten Sleep on August 30, just before the finals. The entry fee is $30. For more information, visit: wyomingsinger-songwriters.com.