Late last summer, after David Archuleta and Brooke White made it to the finals of the 2008 "American Idol" competition, Bob Wood began to wonder just how many other singers raised in the LDS culture had that kind of talent ...
It was more than just idol curiosity.
Bob is in charge of brainstorming ways to get people to log in to Mormontimes.com, the relatively new online appendage to the Deseret News.
He couldn't think of a better draw than music.
And so was the framework laid for the first and probably annual Mormon Times Showcase, a contest that over the winter invited musicians of all ages and genres to submit to the Web site videos of themselves playing their original music.
Hundreds responded, and not just from the United States. Artists sent in their A stuff from as far away as the Philippines, New Zealand, Australia, England, Germany, Ireland, Norway and Canada.
Visitors to the Web site were invited to watch the videos, listen to the music and cast votes for their favorites.
In true "American Idol" style, interest mushroomed. The first week saw 9,000 hits. At the height of the voting, the Web site was getting over 120,000 hits per week.
This past week, balloting closed and the field was trimmed to the top six vote-getters, all of whom will perform at a live concert scheduled for this Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at the Covey Fine Arts Center in downtown Provo (tickets and information available at, if you hadn't already guessed, mormontimes.com).
After everyone has performed, the winner will be announced and awarded the $5,000 first prize. Second place will receive $2,000 and third place $1,000.
It's Mormontimes.com's version of March Madness.
This being the contest's first year, Wood isn't quite sure what to expect when performers who have so far existed only in cyberspace arrive at a plain old-fashioned concert hall. Will all that online interest translate into actual bodies in the seats?
"I hope someone's there besides me," he says.
Promoters worry; that's what they do.
But the worry is likely to be unwarranted when the lineup of the six finalists is unveiled. It includes:
Brandon Osmond of Provo — son of Debbie Osmond and her husband you may have heard about, Donny.
Ben and Chad Truman of Nashville, Tenn. — brothers who perform under the name "Truman" and whose father is Dan Truman, keyboard player for the country band Diamond Rio.
Amy Van Wagenen of Salt Lake City — a young mother of four who has worked with Dean Kaelin, David Archuleta's "Idol" coach.
Nicole Sheahan of Hamilton, Mont. — a BYU student who has recorded a CD called "Invisible Facts."
Barry Hansen of Idaho Falls — a Pearl Award nominee with a popular album out called "My Soul Hungered."
Ryan Innes of Thatcher, Ariz. — a winner of the collegiate Soloist of the Year a cappella competition.
As an added bonus, Wood has lined up two youth performers to fill in the gaps during set changes. One is 11-year-old Allison Chapman from Eden, Weber County. The other is Daniel Archuleta, 15, younger brother of the 2008 "American Idol" runner-up.
"I think I'll advertise that D. Archuleta will perform," says Wood.
Daniel Archuleta is a budding singer in his own right and would likely have entered the Mormontimes.com contest but for one good reason. He didn't know about it.
But next year he will.
"What's behind all this is a way to use the Internet to allow people to be heard and to encourage the writing of new material and see just how much talent is out there," says Wood. "The Internet is a medium that works for this. Over the past four months the interest has just gone crazy. There's a lot of talent out there, just waiting to be noticed."
Lee Benson's column runs Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Please send e-mail to benson@desnews.com