Young Elizabeth the country queen
Dolly Parton, Tammy Wynette and Shania Twain are names we’ve all heard of but in the future keep an ear on Elizabeth Maindonald.
The promising singer from Eltham in Taranaki, has already won a number of competitions in New Zealand and now country music legend Gray Bartlett has sung her praises – and she’s still only seven years old.
‘‘For one so young she has shown here the ability and confidence to go far,’’ said Bartlett after watching a video of Elizabeth on stage this month at Whanganui’s Muddy River country music competition.
Bartlett, the guitarist, producer and composer who has sold two million albums over three decades in the music industry, was impressed with what he heard.
‘‘It’s always really difficult with such a youngster to judge the real potential at this tender age.’’
‘‘But in my long experience, the indicators for her are great.’’
Elizabeth, who has been performing with her parents Lindsay and Anita since she was 18 months old, said Bartlett’s feedback was ‘pretty cool’.
Dad Lindsay added, ‘‘We are both really happy to get such positive feedback from a country music legend’’.
‘‘She has never sung nursery rhymes, she’s only ever sung country songs.’’
While other youngsters her age are listening to Katy Perry and Taylor Swift, Elizabeth’s favourite artists are Abby Christodoulou, from New Zealand country duo Mae Valley, and 14-year-old Kiwi performer and instrumentalist Molly G Paige.
Elizabeth’s first award came in
For one so young she has shown here the ability and confidence to go far Gray Bartlett
2013 when she was three years old, winning the Hutt Valley Country Music Club’s youngest competitor prize, and she’s been winning awards up and down the country ever since.
For her most recent performance at the Muddy River competition she won the junior traditional title and was second in the junior gospel section.
The judges at the Muddy river awards were equally impressed and described her as being a major talent in the country.
‘‘It was good to win the award but I just like to sing and have fun,’’ Elizabeth said.