Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Jordan Lacey Wins Vocalist Award

Jordan Lacey Jackson of Malvern won first place in her age division last week in Pigeon Forge, Tenn. The announcement was made Sunday afternoon in the Louise Mandrell Theatre, where the events were held Tuesday through Friday of last week.

Lacey won the Horizon Award as female vocalist of the year. She sang Dolly Parton's Eagle When She Flies' and Patsy Cline's Crazy' in this category. The theme was traditional country. She performed Wednesday afternoon for the contests.

Wednesday night she sang in a showcase presentation, where she received a standing ovation.

When performing by herself she is know only as Jordan Lacey. When she and her older sister Jessica perform together they are known as the Southern Angels. The two did not perform together during the contest, but Saturday they sang at one of the nearby restaurants.

The two will be singing in Texarkana at the Oaklawn Opry on April 14.

Lacey also entered another category in the national contest, best entertainer of the year, but she did not win it.

Contestants came from across the nation, as well as England, to the prestigious North America Country Music Associations Intl. (NACMAI) event.

Entry in the national finals was by invitation only to members of one of the associations. Lacey is a member of Rocky Mountain Country Music Association.

Seven performers were also inducted into the NACMAI Hall of Fame Sunday afternoon.

They were Billy Walker, known as the Tall Texan and who performs almost every week on the Grand Ole Opry on TNN; Leroy Van Dyke, Auctioneer' and Walk On By' fame; Charlie Louvin, a singer-songwriter; Wilma Lee Cooper, the First Lady of Bluegrass; Martha Carson, a gospel songwriter-singer; D.J. Fontana, a drummer who used to perform at the Louisiana Hayride in Shreveport; and Jerry Kennedy, the former head of Mercury Records in Nashville, Tenn., and whose work as producer with Roger Miller garnered him four Grammy Awards.

Lacey will be performing April 7 in the Mel Tillis Theatre in Branson, Mo., as a part of BransonFest. She is part of the American Kids show. The show will move the next day to Brashler's Theater, where it will be held for the next several months on the second Sunday of each month at 3:00 p.m.

Jordan is in the seventh grade at Magnet Cove Middle School and Jessica is a freshman at Magnet Cove High School. They are the daughters of John and Phyllis Jackson of Malvern and the granddaughters of John and Betty Ragsdale of Prescott.