The Daily Citizen, Dalton, GA

Arts and Entertainment

Related Photos

  • Mallary Hope

    mallary.jpg

Discussion

Welcome to our online comments feature. To join the discussion, you must first register with Disqus and verify your email address. Once you do, your comments will post automatically. We welcome your thoughts and your opinions, including unpopular ones. We ask only that you keep the conversation civil and clean. We reserve the right to remove comments that are obscene, racist or abusive and statements that are false or unverifiable. Repeat offenders will be blocked. You may flag objectionable comments for review by a moderator.
comments powered by Disqus
October 23, 2010

You can go home again

Mallary Hope to headline gospel association meeting

Charles Oliver charlesoliver@daltoncitizen.com

DALTON — Mallary Hope is busy working on songs for her second album, but the Cohutta native hasn’t forgotten her home.

Hope is scheduled to be at the trade center on Nov. 6 for the Georgia Country and Gospel Music Association’s annual awards show.

“When I was 10 years old, my mother found a website for the North American Country Music Associations,” Hope said. “It provides for and helps artists of all ages with seminars and performances. We joined that organization through the Alabama association because there wasn’t a Georgia association.”

Hope, who is now signed with music giant MCA, released her first album, “Loves Lives On,” last year. The title track from that album as well as another single “Blossom in the Dust,” reached Billboard’s “Hot Country Songs” chart.

She credits Jo Anne Johnson, who heads the Alabama Country and Gospel Music Association, with giving her career a big boost.

“She really helped me out a lot and put me in a lot of great places to sing,” Hope said. “I got to do shows with Hank Locklin and Razzy Bailey and Jett Williams. It was great to be around such historic artists. I got to perform all the time.”

Hope said her mother, Kaye Whitener, started the Georgia association eight years ago.

“I thought it would be great to come back and meet all of these kids that are in the same place I was back then and encourage them,” Hope said. “I’ll also be playing a few of my songs.”

It will be her first performance in Whitfield County since she sang after the Northwest Whitfield High School-Dalton High School football game in October 2009, shortly after debuting on the Grand Ole Opry.

“I’m really looking forward to it,” Hope said.

Hope, 23, attended Northwest until her junior year when her family moved to Nashville so she could pursue her music career.

In addition, Alisa Asbury, CEO of the association, said there will be a special surprise guest. She won’t say who it is, but she says the performer is a Country Music Association award winner and a member of the Grand Ole Opry who will be performing a few of his hit records.

Text Only
Arts and Entertainment