It's got catchy tunes, amazing performances and plenty of star power, and since it's debut last month, NBC's "Songland" is quickly becoming the next big music competition series. Tonight, Northeast Ohio takes center stage as Canton native Rynn Kempthorn competes for a shot at writing a hit song for tonight's guest artists, The Jonas Brothers.
Singer/songwriter Rynn is now based in LA, but her musical roots date back to her childhood in Canton.
"My whole life I’ve loved music. I started with classical piano lessons when I was 5 years old, but even then as a kid, I would play my classical piano and always want to add my own twist to it," she told us.
Her earliest onstage performances were at the local coffee shop.
"There was a little coffee shop called Muggswigz in my hometown and they had open mic night every Tuesday, so that was some of my first experience writing songs and going to the local coffee shop to perform it and from there it continued to escalate." Kempthorn said.
Rynn has already started to make waves in the music industry in the short time she's lived on the West Coast - her original song "Islands" went viral on Spotify last year and "Songland" producers sought her out to participate in the show.
"We sent them a song, I honestly didn’t think too much of it, or didn’t want to get my hopes up, but I was actually back home in Ohio for the week visiting some family and I got a call that they were going to go ahead and start filming that next Monday if I wanted to be a part of it. So from there I jumped on a plane back to LA and loved every second of it."
Rynn says it was surreal to perform her work for The Jonas Brothers.
"I grew up in that Disney era when The Jonas Brothers were on the radio and they had their TV show at the time, and so it was such a full circle moment to walk in that room and perform my song for them," she said.
The episode was shot back in February and she's had to keep things under wraps until tonight.
"It's so exciting that I can finally share it with my friends and family. My mom has already told me that she’s inviting her friends and the neighbors over and they’re going to all watch it."
With "Songland" under her belt, Rynn is well on her way to become a star in her own right, but she says songwriting will always be her first love.
"I just get such a thrill the moment after you write a song and you just want to listen to it a thousand times over. I just wanna continue doing what I’m doing and continue to wake up everyday and write songs and wherever that leads me, I’m excited to see what happens."
During Tuesday's episode, Rynn advaced to the top three. She was given the opportunity to work with country music artist, songwriter and super prouder Shane McAnally on her song "Crowded Places." In the end, Rynn's song was not selected by the Jonas Brothers, but we're confident this isn't the last we'll see of her.
