Jamie Lynn Spears sang into the mic and nothing came out.
She looked pleadingly off stage with a โhey can you help meโ expression aimed toward the sound guy.
Still nothing.
She continued singing until her manager came out with a hot mic just in time for her to finish the song.
It was a minor hiccup to her Country Thunder debut on Saturday afternoon, a performance that was easily one of the most interesting surprises of the 2015 festival.
We know of Spears as Britneyโs little sister and Zoe in Nickelodeonโs โZoe 101.โ On Friday, she introduced us to the grown-up Jamie Lynn, the 24-year-old mother of a 6-year-old daughter who followed her heart to country music.
โItโs just a part of who I am. So when I started writing music I didnโt have any intention of would it be pop or would it be country. I just started writing and this is what made sense with my story,โ the Louisiana native said in an interview backstage just before her afternoon show.
On stage, Spears made a convincing argument for her future in country music. She has a lovely twangy soprano that was refreshingly bright on her 2013 debut indie single โHow Could I Want More,โ a song that made an impressive chart run on Billboard.
She performed most if not all of the songs off her debut EP including โShotgun Weddingโ and sprinkled in a couple covers including admirable renditions of Aerosmithโs โWalk This Wayโ and Paramoreโs โAinโt It Fun.โ
A highlight of the show was when she and two members of her band planted themselves on the catwalk and stripped things down to the bones on a cover of โI Got the Boy,โ a song she cowrote that Jana Kramer is taking on a chart run. The performance was soulful and heartfelt and there was a wonderful sense of intimacy, as if she was performing in her living room, not in the middle of an enormous stage with several thousand people looking on.
