A “Crazy” country singer makes waves in competitions
By Karen Mann Journal Correspondent

Deborahann Mayer is a rising star in New England's country music scene.

After her first competition, she is already a rising star.

Resident Deborahann Mayer won two Rising Star awards at this year’s New England Country Music Organization competition.

“I couldn’t even believe it,” said Mayer. “I did it for fun.”

Mayer was not even at the award ceremony, so she did not know she had won. She was contacted by fellow resident Albert “Tubby” Boucher, who told her the good news after he attended the ceremony.

According to Mayer, the Rising Star award is for someone who “displays special promising ability to become a top contender and has special presentation.”

A move from Westford to Townsend 18 months ago propelled Mayer to start singing publicly.

Mayer’s recounting of her beginnings sounds cliché. She says she was simply walking through the Townsend Common where local country singer David Lamoureux was performing. They started chatting and he asked her to sing a song.

Mayer chose “Crazy” by Patsy Cline, and says the experience was nerve-wracking.

“Now it is not a problem — I can sing anywhere now,” she said.

She has proven that by singing karaoke at the Leominster bar, Classics. Mayer said she is friends with the owner — Andrew Rome — and a group of her friends go every Sunday night.

One night, a talent scout was there.

He invited three of them, including Lamoureux, to come to the New England Country Music Organization competition in Chelmsford, where she won the two awards. One was in the “traditional country” category, in which she sang Cline’s “Crazy,” the other in the “new country” category, in which she sang Carrie Underwood’s “Before He Cheats.”

She also performed in a talent showcase at Townsend Memorial Hall the same day.

Being involved in the local entertainment industry “is a real nice way to meet people in Townsend,” she said.

She hopes to take her newfound singing confidence somewhere bigger. But first, she is taking vocal lessons because she only had brief lessons in college. Mayer said she has contemplated seeing where her music career goes when her daughters are older and she has more time.

“Right now, it is just a hobby. My full-time job is raising

my two girls,” said the single mother.

That commitment to her family isn’t stopping her from local performances and practicing, though. Mayer is competing in a competition this March in New Hampshire. For that one, she is working on mastering a Martina McBride song.

She also looks forward to singing at more fairs in town, which she says she really enjoys doing.

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Karen Mann is a 2006 graduate of Emerson College, in Boston, where she studied journalism. She resides in Townsend.