Michele LeTourneau
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Aug 11/00) - Country singer Chrystal Steedsman recalls practising her singing every Saturday afternoon at the Gold Range jam for six years.

Steedsman, daughter of local fashion designer Berna Beaulieu, credits her mom for pushing her to be brave enough to get on stage the very first time.

"I practised this one song over and over again for a whole week. And then I got up on stage and I was so nervous that I was really, really bad. And then I got that feeling all over again. I said, 'I need to do this.'"

She'd sung before as a young girl, only to rediscover her voice at the age of 19, thanks to her mother. She was willing to take any opportunity she could to get up on stage and work on her passion, including Caribou Carnival, Raven Mad Daze and a True North concert in Whitehorse.

It's paid off.

Steedsman, a mother of two, was chosen by Country Music Hall of Famer Gary Buck to be one of the new country singers to be featured on a CD. This summer, the singer travelled to Nashville, Tenn., to cut a track on Hall of Fame: New Faces of Canadian Country Music, Volume 1.

Buck -- based in Calgary, Alta., where Steedsman has lived for two years -- has chosen 14 singers from New Brunswick to British Columbia.

"I got a phone call and he asked me to be on the CD. Actually, I almost didn't do it. I couldn't afford it."

Travelling to Nashville wasn't cheap, neither was accommodation. But Steedsman was eager to record, especially in Nashville, and managed to round up the money.

"And off I went. It was great. It's a big kick in the butt, actually. It's Nashville. You walk down the street and at every door that's open there's someone singing for money. And they're amazing singers. At first I thought, 'What am I doing here?' But it was a great experience."

Steedsman says some of the back-up musicians on the CD are from Garth Brooks' band.

"So it was a really big deal," she says.

The song Steedsman recorded is called You Better Say Goodbye, by Nashville writer Chris Miller. With her fiance Rob's help, she chose the song over countless others sent to her.

"I like to sing really up-beat songs. This one's a slow one. But Rob said, 'I think you could do something with that.'"

And she did.