University graduate Katy Montalto recently used her love of music and natural ability to enter Country Music Television’s 2009 Music City Madness contest, not anticipating that her video would make it to the final eight. Montalto, a May 2010 graduate from the University with a double major in telecommunication and film and musical theater, entered the contest with an original song she wrote called “Drivin’ On.” The first round winners of the contest were chosen in October 2009 and lasted until the first week of December. The first round began with 64 music video entries, and Montalto’s entry made it to the fourth round, where she was one of the final eight contestants. “I’ve always known I wanted to do music,” Montalto said. “‘Drivin’ On’ is a song you can sing along to. It was the most polished song and one of the first songs I wrote. “I always loved country music, growing up,” Montalto said. “I like the simpleness and honesty in country music.” Montalto is currently in Nashville and said the contest has encouraged her to go further with music. She is currently an Associate Producer for Channel 5 News in Nashville, working the night shift and the morning show. “I knew music was here, and there were opportunities,” she said. “I’ve always thought this was a great town.” Montalto grew up in Trussville with a sister who was involved in the music scene for four years before Montalto came to the University. Her sister plays locally, but this is the first time Montalto has done anything comparable. Her brother encouraged her to enter the contest. Montalto participated in Guerilla Theatre, which takes place once a month on Saturday nights on tProxy-Connection: keep-alive Cache-Control: max-age=0

UA campus. Students can play their music or participate however they want, she said. “That was the first place I was able to sing my song,” Montalto said. Raphael Crystal, director of the musical theater department, helped her to pursue music by conducting songwriting and composing workshops on Tuesdays to help his theater students. Crystal offers the workshop to his theater students and is not paid for teaching it. “It wasn’t a registered class; he just did it,” Montalto said. “He always gives all his time to his theater kids. He’s so knowledgeable and helpful. He’s just great.” Montalto played the piano growing up, but just started playing guitar in college. She said she tried playing it in high school, but that it hurt her fingers, and she quickly became frustrated with it. The encouragement from her hometown and UA students about her contest entry helped Montalto to pursue music with more confidence. “Knowing I had the support of so many people was encouraging,” she said. Montalto shot the video with her boyfriend, Daniel Lincoln, a December graduate from the University with a master’s degree in finance. Lincoln said the staff at the Sanford Media Center helped them a lot with the video, which was shot in one day at Sokol Park in Tuscaloosa. He chose the place because it had country roads that went with the song. “The rain part of the video was like taking a lucky picture,” Lincoln said. “The way she acted was just so natural. I felt comfortable watching it afterwards.” Montalto said she just wants to get situated in Nashville with her new job before she goes out pursuing a music career. Nashville is all about music, and she looks forward to having time to work more on it later. “She’s realistic enough to have a regular career and be happy with that,” Lincoln said. “She can just let the music career happen if it is going to.” You can watch Katy Montalto’s video at www.cmt.com.