Last Saturday, we crowned the champion of the 2012 Battle for the Big O!  It was an amazing night of competition at Diamond Lake's "Good Time" Theatre and the grand champion was Brian Hart of Henderson.  He pocketed $1,000.00 and gets the honor of opening The Big O Music Fest, Saturday, August 18th at Reid's Orchard.  Brian was awesome Saturday . . . but got a run for his money from two different acts:  Dakota Cummins and Ryan Hayden and The Bourbon Barrel Band.  Since the score was SO close, we thought you should see our runners-up too!  They were terrific and missed the title by a mere FOUR points!  TAKE A LOOK!

Here's Dakota Cummins!  He is a bluegrass prodigy from Dongola, Illinois and completely won the crowd over with his mad pickin' skills.  This is an AWESOME ode to Johnny Cash!

Dakota had to drive three hours to compete at Diamond Lake so he didn't bring his own cheering section.  But, it didn't matter.  He completely won the crowd over and established himself as one of the favorites to win the title.

And then there's Ryan Hayden and The Bourbon Barrel Band.  The Owensboro-based band had their sights on a big win too.  And they delivered.  Check out their rocking performance of Eric Church's "Drink a Little Drink, Smoke a Little Smoke."  This is unique, inventive and GREAT!

My buddy, Jeff Hyde, cowrote that song and I can't wait to show it to him.  He, most definitely, will be proud. 

Congratulations, guys!  You all were amazing.  We can't wait to see more from you in the future.  And, we're honestly hoping they return next year to compete in the 2013 Battle!

The Battle for the Big O is presented by Henderson Chevy Buick GMC.  Cross that money-saving bridge!

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