Following Your Dreams: Rachel Potter, Country Singer

Born in New Orleans, Rachel Potter has been singing since she was three years old. I first saw Rachel perform on The X Factor USA and I began rooting for her to win. She was amazing on the show, but unfortunately she was sent home way too early.

Rachel is a big believer in following her dreams. She puts her heart and soul into it. In fact her own quote says it all: "God doesn’t put dreams in people’s hearts if he doesn’t intend to make them a reality." Rachel has been working all her life towards this end and I really admire her for not giving up. Rachel started writing songs when she was just 12 years old and in 2010 released a 10 song album called "Come Back Home," of her original songs. She has performed in many venues, eventually getting the part of Wednesday Addams in a Broadway production of The Addams Family. Rachel currently lives in Nashville, where she is pursuing her dream of making country music and changing the world with her words.

Rachel is not sitting around waiting to be discovered. Currently she is working on her new album, “Not So Black and White,” as an independent artist. She has no record label to back her so she is asking fans to help fund her dream and make it a reality. In exchange, fans will get rewards based on the amount of their contribution. The list of rewards is quite extensive and Rachel’s dedication to her music career is equally impressive. If you are a fan of Rachel’s or country music in general and believe in people following dreams, you can help Rachel at the following website: http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/rachelpotter. There you can preorder her new album and so much more.

If you would like to learn more about Rachel Potter, check out her amazing website at http://rachelpottermusic.com/home. If you have never seen or heard of Rachel yet, you definitely will. I have complete faith in her turning her dream into a reality. Meanwhile, here is a sample of Rachel Potter singing a country version of “Somebody To Love”at her X Factor audition. See if you don’t love her after watching this video! She gets a standing ovation!

You can watch many more videos @ http://rachelpottermusic.com/video

Following Your Dreams: Olivia Henken, Country Singer

I first saw Olivia Henken on Season 5 of The Voice. There is always a lot of great talent on that show, but for me Olivia stood out from the crowd. She is beautiful, has an effervescent personality and her talent is off the charts. I was rooting for her to win so she could more easily pursue her dream of being a country singer with help from the show. Unfortunately, Olivia went home much too early, but not before making a fan out of me.

Olivia Henken was born and raised in Kentucky. She has been singing practically since she learned to talk. You can tell that singing comes very naturally to her and this is what she was born to do. After The Voice she went back home to work in her family’s tax preparation business. I would see her tweet about it and hoped this was just a temporary job until she figured out what she was going to go next in her career. Before appearing on The Voice, Olivia recorded a great country album titled “The Ride.” Recently, Olivia moved to Nashville to pursue her dream. 

While on The Voice, Olivia sang one of Carrie Underwood’s hits, “Two Black Cadillacs.” I have to tell you I have been a huge Carrie fan from the moment she auditioned on American Idol. I was a little nervous when I heard that Olivia was going to try and sing a song that was so popular and classically Carrie. I watched her performance with a very critical eye to see if Olivia would disappoint me. I even closed my eyes to listen to her rendition so I could focus just on her voice. I have to say, I was very happy with Olivia’s version of the song. She sang it flawlessly. I could easily see she was in Carrie league. I don’t say that lightly either. 

I think it’s fantastic that Olivia is going after her dream and I wish her the very best of luck. You can learn more about Olivia on her website http://oliviacountry.com/home and you can follow her on Twitter @oliviahenken. If you want to sample the songs on “The Ride” album you can preview and buy it on itunes https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/the-ride/id469534888

Meanwhile, here is Olivia’s cover of “Two Black Cadillacs.” What do you think of her audition?