Emotional Performance of Kevin Skinner Shows Mayfield, Kentucky Has Talent

It's unlikely Hollywood would ever come up with a movie plot where an unemployed chicken farmer from a small town would enter a talent show and sing his way into the hearts of the country.

Singer is an unemployed chicken catcher.

However, thirty-five-year-old Kevin Skinner of Mayfield, Kentucky is using his country twang to do just that. Appearing on the NBC show America's got Talent on June 23 , the unemployed Skinner provoked the judges and audience into laughter when he walked on stage and revealed his down home country accent as he gave his name and hometown, and then said this most recent profession was a "chicken catcher".

Wearing a beaten up baseball cap, Skinner was asked by Judge David Hasselhoff how many chickens he would catch in a day. There was more laughter as Skinner awkwardly admitted in a slow country drawl, "Well, I'm not a math-, I'm not real good at math. We caught about 60,000 in one night, six guys. And one person caught eight at a time."

But a few moments later when Skinner playing his Tacoma guitar and launched into Garth Brook's, "If Tomorrow Never Comes", all hesitation and awkwardness ended. His unadorned performance connected deeply with the audiences' emotions leaving some open mouthed in surprise. Most stood as they applauded. Skinner eyes watered in appreciation of the crowd's and judges' praise. "You moved us, man", said Hasselhoff, as he and the other judges voted to advance him in the competition.

You Tube has shown the video 2.1 million times.

A few weeks later a You Tube video of that performance has been viewed more than 2 million times, with other videos of Skinner also scoring well on You Tube and on the show's website.

While it is likely that the producers of America's got Talent, played Skinner's hick image for all it was worth, the genuine feeling in his singing could not have been staged. Surprising the audience and viewers by connecting on a deep emotional level was good television.

Skinner preformed on the show again on August 4 singing another song popularized by Garth Brooks, "Make You Feel My Love". Judge Piers Morgan said, "That was the performance of the night, no question," and the nationwide audience voted him into the semifinals.

Skinner says in his video introduction that he has never been out of Kentucky. However, his fan website says that he has played a number of times on "open mikes" in Nashville, Tennessee with is sister, Jennifer. It seems likely he meant to say that he has never been outside of Kentucky for any lengthy period of time. Jennifer and his brother, Rodney, have preformed at various times with Kevin and are part of his band, "Kevin Skinner and Friends", according to the website. The website also states that another brother, Michael, "has a degree in classical piano from Notre Dame."

Skinner was inspired by love for his grandmother.

Kevin Skinner told a local TV reporter that his musical ability was stirred by death of his grandmother, Ethel Clapp, a few years ago. "She meant really more than words I can express. I believe my music was a way for me to release the sadness for what I was feeling at the time," he said. Since then music and song writing has "poured out" of him. For his preliminary auditions Skinner sang, "Her Stone" a song he wrote about his grandmother.

Back in Mayfield, the town of 10,000 people is decked out in signs of support as residents are cheered by a hometown man becoming famous. One said, "Good Luck and Best Wishes to the Chicken Catcher". Despite Skinner's accent, which most people would consider "hillbilly", Mayfield is actually in the gently rolling countryside of western Kentucky, hundreds of miles from the Appalachian Mountains of eastern Kentucky.

Skinner's manner of speaking seems genuine, (He had the same accent when interviewed on a local newscast.), but his friends seem to speak with a more subdued accent common in the rural south.

Mayfield, Kentucky is far from the mountains of eastern Kentucky.

Mayfield is the county seat of Graves County, population 37,000, located in far western Kentucky along the Purchase Parkway and US Route 45 , about 30 miles from the Mississippi River. Seaboard Corporation's chicken processing plant in Mayfield is a major employer, with a number of large, modern farms nearby producing poultry.

The town has been facing some hard times as the factories that employed thousands of local people have mostly closed over the last couple of decades. According to the US Census Bureau, median family income was $27,463 in 1999 compared to a national figure of $40,939. However, most people live in well-maintained homes and relatively few in trailers.

Another native of Mayfield that has achieved a level of fame includes Bobby Ann Mason (1940- ), author of the novel, In Country, a story about a 17-year-old girl's quest to learn about her father who died in the Vietnam War before she was born. The movie was partially filmed in Mayfield and featured actors Emily Lloyd and Bruce Willis. Lloyd spent time with a local family in order to learn the west Kentucky accent. Norman Jewison directed the 1989 film. Some locals residents, including some actual Vietnam Veterans and their families, appeared in the dance scene.

Ellis Wilson (1899-1997) was born in Mayfield and began drawing as a teenager. An African American, his paintings mostly portray ordinary black people in the American South and in the nation of Haiti. He received only modest fame and little wealth in his lifetime. However, in 1985 Wilson's "Funeral Procession" was featured in an episode of The Cosby Show. The painting was then added to the show's set.