GEORGE — A former North Olympic Peninsula resident chasing her dreams in Nashville will get her big opportunity for stardom this weekend during the fifth annual Watershed Music and Camping Festival in George.
Bailey Bryan — who attended school in Port Angeles and Sequim — with her band will make her debut performance at 2:30 p.m. Saturday with another performance at 3 p.m. Aug. 6.
Both performances are at the Gorge Amphitheatre, 754 Silica Road NW, in George.
“Bailey was so excited when she learned that she had the opportunity to come back home to debut her songs in front of friends and family,” said Callie Cunningham, Watershed Music and Camping Festival manager.
“She has always admired Watershed Festival so to get to be on the stage this year is something she’ll never forget.”
The festival, hosted on two consecutive weekends, will be headlined by country superstars Eric Church, Jason Aldean and Keith Urban, with plenty of fresh-faced talent from Nashville looking to make it big, according to watershedfest.com.
A standard festival pass is $199 per weekend, and will allow the holder to attend all the performances at the amphitheatre.
Washington native
Bryan was born on Whidbey Island and lived in the Freeland area of South Whidbey until her family moved to the North Olympic Peninsula when she was 8 years old, according to a news release.
She attended school for a year in Port Angeles, while her parents opened Anytime Fitness there, and then middle school and high school through her junior year in Sequim.
Starring in musicals, winning talent shows and playing her music in church and on the streets of Port Angeles, Sequim, Port Townsend and Leavenworth all contributed to her development as a singer and songwriter, Bryan said.
At the age of 7, Bryan met future publisher and mentor, Becki Devries of Kompass Music Publishing in Nashville, Tenn., at a music worship service.
“I knew Bailey had talent even then,” Devries said.
“But when I came back to the island to visit family in the summer of 2013, I held a songwriting seminar that Bailey attended. It was then that I realized she had the whole package.”
In an article written in June 2013 by The Growl Online, the official Sequim High School student news site, Bryan — a freshman at the time — said she already was planning on pursuing a music career.
“I want to move to Nashville when I grow up because it’s kind of the music city,” she said.
“There are just a lot of opportunities there.”
Bryan is now working on her debut album release.
In November 2015, at age 17, Bryan moved to Nashville with her family to pursue her music career, all while completing high school via online courses.
Finishing high school
In June, Bryan, along with more than 450 students from across Washington state, received her high school diploma despite never having stepped foot in a traditional classroom. She gained her diploma through Insight School of Washington — a tuition-free, online public school serving students in ninth through 12 grades that provides its students with a learning environment that works for them, according to a news release.
The online or alternative learning environment has enabled graduates from the class of 2016 to take a range of courses, engage in extracurricular activities and participate in community service opportunities, Insight School of Washington said.
Additionally, many students enroll in Advanced Placement or Running Start courses, enabling them to earn college credits.
“ISWA has allowed me to go to school anywhere I had my computer and internet access,” Bryan said.
“Because of ISWA, I was able to be in Nashville in the recording studio, something I’ve dreamt of my whole life, but still have the opportunity to get my diploma which is also really important to me.”
Shortly after Bailey relocated to Nashville, she inked a first-ever joint recording deal with Warner Music Nashville and 300 Entertainment out of New York, according to the release.
For more information, visit watershedfest.com.
