Whitesville, KY Teenagers Win the Friday Night Fight Talent Contest in Owensboro

The 2022 Friday Night Fight talent contest is in the books and the finale, held in downtown Owensboro last Friday night at Friday After 5, was an action-packed and thrilling fight to the finish.

WBKR's Friday Night Fight is presented by the Western Kentucky Regional Blood Center and FA5. Earlier this summer, we had two open auditions, at which talented singers and bands from across the region competed for one of eight spots in our finale event. On Friday, those eight finalists competed in a series of on stage fights (think the "Battle Rounds" on NBC's The Voice) and, after the quarterfinal, semifinal and final rounds, one act was left standing. Here's how it played out!

The opening "fight" pitted Maceo against Yellow Banks.

MACEO

YELLOW BANKS

In what was one of the closest votes of the night, Maceo advanced to the semis in a tight, 3-2 decision.

The second "fight" pitted Owensboro-based Bourbon Roots against Nortonville, KY-based Denim & Pearls.

BOURBON ROOTS

DENIM & PEARLS

Denim & Pearls, despite one of the two guitarists breaking a string as soon as they started performing Gretchen Wilson's "Here for the Party", won the round and advanced to the semifinals, where they would take on Maceo for a spot in the championship round. Maceo took that semifinal victory and earned the shot at the $1000 grand prize.

On the other side of the draw, four equally talented acts were competing for that spot opposite Maceo in the final round.

In our third quarterfinal "fight" of the night, the Owensboro-based duo Uncharted took on Ohio County's Emmalee Chinn, who was 2021's Friday Night Fight runner-up.

UNCHARTED

EMMALEE CHINN

Emmalee won her round with a terrific performance of "Dust on the Bottle" and advanced to the semifinals.

She would face the winner of the fourth "fight", which featured Happiness Jones and the Oklahoma Hunnies.

OKLAHOMA HUNNIES

HAPPINESS JONES

The Oklahoma Hunnies, with a spirited cover of the "Let 'Er Rip" by the Dixie Chicks, won the round and, then, followed it up with a victory of EmmaLee Chinn in the semifinals.

In the finals, in a 3-2 decision, the Oklahoma Hunnies took out Maceo to win $1000 and the right to close out the Ruoff Party Stage on the season finale night of Friday After 5's 26th Anniversary Season, on Friday, September 2nd.

The judges for the 2022 Friday Night Fight were Ron Rhodes and Ange Humphrey from WEHT, Leslie Morgan from 99.5 WKDQ, Vicki Ellis from the Western KY Regional Blood Center and our very own Barb Birgy from The Country Station, 92.5 WBKR.

Congratulations to the Oklahoma Hunnies, who all live in Whitesville, KY and are related.  They were sensational and were certainly crowd favorites on Friday night. They'll be entertaining crowds again on September 2nd on the Pier at the Owensboro Convention Center as Friday After 5 wraps up a summer of exciting live music downtown.

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