CMT Narrows Field on Talent Search

 Country Music Television has announced the top 64 finalists of its third annual "Music City Madness" competition. CMT received more than twice the number of entries this year from aspiring Country Music artists. CMT.com placed the chosen Country Music acts into voting brackets in the single-elimination tournament that is being sponsored by Chevrolet.  The finalists, who collectively represent all styles of Country Music including bluegrass, folk, southern rock and Americana, have been posted at the official contest Web site, madness.CMT.com. These unsigned artists will be able to showcase original, unpublished music to fans across the country. The first round of voting in the Music City Madness competition began yesterday. Fans will vote online to narrow down the top 64 contenders over the next two weeks. On Tuesday, Nov. 4, the brackets will narrow and only 32 contenders will be left to battle for votes. New brackets will be posted weekly afterwards, until the final round is announced on Dec. 2. To encourage fan participation, CMT created a custom site with embedded videos where fans can view head-to-head matches onscreen simultaneously and share videos with their friends. The online competition will also be featured in special edition of CMT Top 20 Countdown in December, with Lance Smith hosting a round-by-round recap that reveals the top two finalists and highlights the best and most unique submissions.The lucky winning artist will receive an all-expense paid trip to Nashville to record an episode of Unplugged at Studio 330, and perform a showcase for A&R executives from Warner Bros. Records. The Madness winner will also receive a mentoring session from Country Music superstar, Randy Travis.During last year's Music City Madness competition, more than four million votes were cast at CMT.com. Young 13-year-old Utah native Katelynn Jolley was the winner.