Catching up with SiriusXM Top of the Country Finalist – Kelsi Mayne

Kelsi Mayne should be no stranger to our readers, we featured Kelsi several years ago as she was vying for the Boots and Hearts Emerging Artist of the year. Many of you may recognize her as the ‘Cherry Bomb’ in the River Town Saints hit video for the single of the same name and Eric Ethridge fans may recognize Kelsi from his cover of Luke Bryan and Karen Fairchild’s “Home Alone Tonight”.

Kelsi will be hitting the festival circuit all summer starting with the Woodstock Truck Show later this month but first she’s calling her fans to support her in her big to be named 2019 SiriusXM Top of the Country!

We caught up with Kelsi over the weekend by email to get an update on what she’s been doing since 2016 and what we can expect to see from her in the coming months / years.

SCE: You’re no stranger to these kinds of competitions having been a finalist in the Boots and Hearts Emerging Artist Competition a few years back, as a matter of fact we’ve already put you through a round of these questions…we’ll have to make this round a bit harder. How does Top of the Country compare with the Boots and Hearts Emerging Artist competition?

Kelsi: Oooo good question! Although I am still an independent artist, Top of the Country allows signed artists to enter (in fact most of the other competitors are signed), so this competition is definitely more fierce and the stakes are even higher.

SCE: It’s been a few years since we got to know you at Boots and Hearts. How has your career evolved in the years since?

Kelsi: Since then, some pretty cool things have happened to say the least! I’ve had a couple songs on the radio break the Billboard top 100, a few hundred-thousand streams on Spotify and Apple Music, 4 nationally-televised performances including Rogers Hometown Hockey Tour last December, and got to perform my very own set on the Boots and Hearts main-stage last summer. This year we’re performing our first out-of-province gigs— playing main stages at festivals in Alberta including the Big Valley Jamboree! I owe a lot to Boots and Hearts for getting the ball rolling for me!

SCE: If you could own any make, model or style of vehicle what would you own?

Kelsi: Well my mind is always “what does the band need,” so at the moment my dream vehicle is a tour bus/RV or a Mercedes Sprinter :P.

SCE: Favourite TV show (all-time)?

Kelsi: GOT is the GOAT! Da-na-na-na—Da-na-na-na—Da-na-na-na —Da-na-na-na

SCE: If you could tour with any artist, of any genre, who is still alive today who would it be?

Kelsi: Take me to CHURCH! …. Eric Church that is 🙂

SCE: iPhone, Android or Pixel?

Kelsi: iPhone. But we have a love-hate relationship.

SCE: The list of things you’ve already accomplished at such a young age is incredible. Not only do you have a nursing degree, a track record as a nationally ranked hurdler (which on it’s own is incredible, I try to jump over a puddle and 9 out of 10 times I just fall right in the middle), you’re staring in the movie adaptation of Stephen King’s “Willa” and, as if that wasn’t enough, you’re still active on the summer festival circuit. Where do you see yourself in 10 years? (told you these would be harder)

Kelsi: Awe thank you so much!

In 10 years, I see very much of the same things, just on larger scales. I’ll still be doing what I love (performing and writing my own music) but for bigger audiences, on bigger stages and have a bigger team behind me (it’s getting a little crazy juggling everything on my own at the moment, but I like the challenge).

SCE: Stress management: hit man, spa vacation or Prozac?

Kelsi: Spas make me nervous. But a couple “HIIT” man workouts always do the trick 😉 (High Intensity Interval Training).

SCE: If you could be any superhero who would you be?

Kelsi: Anyone who knows me, knows I’ve been obsessed with Jean Grey since I was little (it’s a redhead thing :P).

SCE: Multiple Part Question: Star Trek or Star Wars? If Star Trek pick from the following (Original Series, TNG, Deep Space Nine, Voyageur, Enterprise, Discovery or all of them I’m a Trekkie). If Star Wars pick from the following (Original Trilogy, Second Trilogy (aka Episodes I-III), Third Trilogy, Spin offs, or all of them I love Star Wars and I’ll watch it as long as it has the words Star Wars on it)

Kelsi: Star Trek OG series! They’re extremely cheesy but the concepts were really ahead of their time! Plus William Shatner is Canadian.

SCE: In “Kelsi Mayne, Story of My Life” – The Movie, who would play you?

Kelsi: Probably the 3 redheads I always get that I look alike: Sophie Turner, Jessica Chastain, or Bryce Dallas Howard.

SCE: What’s been the highlight of your career to date?

Kelsi: Being introduced and called a “sensation” by the one and only Ron MacLean!

SCE: Many artists we’ve worked with have crazy pre-show traditions or superstitions that they must partake in before they’ll set foot on the stage. What is a must for you before every show?

Kelsi: “Squats and Shots”

SCE: Take a moment to tell country fans across Canada why they should come and vote for you to be Canada’s next Top Country Star!

Kelsi: I’m considered the “underdog” in the competition because I’m the only one without a label, manager, agent or publisher. So it really is just me and you guys — which is more powerful than anything :).

SCE: When the dust clears on Top of The Country and festival season what does the next year hold for Kelsi?

Kelsi: I’m releasing my first album in November so a cross-Canada radio tour for the next single from that, and then back to writing, recording, and wearing all of my administrative hats (agent, manager, music video producer/director/editor, etc.).

If you want to learn more about Kelsi be sure to checkout her website: https://www.kelsimayne.com, to support her bid to become Top of the Country be sure to vote for her daily here: https://topcountry.siriusxm.ca/, voting ends May 17!

Win or lose Kelsi is a star in the making and it won’t be long until her name will become a household name across Canada! We wish her the best of luck in the competition and will be watching closely as her career progresses!