Howdy, y’all! Show choir in the Lone Star State is back for 2024. The Cowtown Classic has come to be the traditional opening event on the calendar (although this author is BEGGING Texas for more competitions). Complete with the usual stalwarts, a returning challenger or two, and some personnel moves, Cowtown will be a true shakedown of where Texas show choir stands in the new year.
High School
The Lineup (all groups from Texas)
Mixed: Arlington “Choraliers”, Burleson “Breakaway”, Centennial “Shades of Blue”, Fossil Ridge “Pantheon”, Keller “Blue Lights”, Keller Central “Voices of Central”, Legacy “Silver Elite”, Paschal “Vox”, Southlake Carroll “The SLC”, Timber Creek “Aerodynamix”
Cowtown returns all six finalists – Keller Central, Legacy, Timber Creek, Fossil Ridge, Arlington and Centennial – from the 2023 edition. What’s going to be different this year? “It’s so hard to say who’s really on top,” noted longtime Texas show choir observer Kellan Thibodaux. “In the past three years, Texas show choir has strengthened exponentially.”
Voices of Central hasn’t dropped a contest in the state of Texas since 2020, and while Legacy nabbed a caption from them here last year, most say that Keller Central is still right where they always are. “They just have everything for it: the direction, the people, everything,” Thibodaux said.
Behind them, Silver Elite is locked and loaded for another year under the steady hands of Josh Powell, Lauren Lafferty and Ashley Kimbrough. While the group didn’t make finals at their final competition in 2023, they are just as capable as ever of storming back to the top. Fossil Ridge is in much the same situation, with the Carlos Saenz-led group finding its way as a post-pandemic entrant into show choir and well on track to becoming the next show choir powerhouse to come out of Keller.
Arlington was last year’s fifth-place group here, but ended its 2023 with a no-caption win at Rouse that saw Fort Worth Southwest and Texas City take choreography and vocals captions. The Mason Barlow-led outfit is definitely a strong candidate to improve on its 2023 Cowtown placing and jump from good to great consistently.
Two of last year’s finalists will see slightly new looks this year. Alissa Ruth Suver left Timber Creek and Caleb Bennetch is in as the head director of ADX. Adrian Kirtley has been retained as assistant director of the group. Aerodynamix was right behind Arlington at Rouse to close last season, but a new director equalizes all of that out. Centennial’s first finals appearance came at this competition a year ago; Eric Cooley has now moved on and Cody Duff is the director of Shades of Blue.
Paschal, Southlake Carroll and Burleson all are entered again after missing finals last year. Vox’s last finals appearance came at this competition four years ago, and they will have an uphill battle to make the evening round. Burleson ran its first full season of show choir a year ago and did not make any finals. This year, they picked up choreographer Ben Eklund to help further their show. Southlake Carroll is another sophomore group that picked up Ben Eklund. The SLC also picked up Stephani Hyatt and it’s hard to find a Jen Randall-led group that stays away from success for too long. Southlake Carroll will also become an ambassador for Texas this year, as they will travel up to Council Bluffs, Iowa to compete in the Lewis Central Clash of the Titans on March 2.
A wildcard in the mixed division is Keller Blue Lights. Keller did not attend Cowtown last year and is a completely fresh choir, with longtime director Chi-Chi King retiring and assistant director Zach Steele moving into the head role. Along with the name change from Tribe to Blue Lights, a womens group, Lumina, was added to the program in advance of this season. This group’s last finish outside the top three was in 2019 – they will look to disrupt the finals field in a big way here.
While they are not competing, the hosting Fort Worth Southwest Southwest Effect is one of the larger headline-grabbing groups at the competition. “My most concrete prediction is that Southwest Effect is catapulting to the top [this year],” said Thibodaux. “The past two years have been huge for them.” The group will be at North Texas, South Omaha, Lone Star and Capital City this season.
Prep: Arlington Heights “Nitro”, Cristo Rey Fort Worth “Blazin’ Blue”, Ferris “Yellowjacket Singers”, Keller Central “Voltage”, Timberview “Viva di Voce”
Despite it being the undercard division on Saturday, the prep division contains an interesting group of stories. Voltage remains the top second group in Texas and was third in finals at this competition two years ago. Cristo Rey and Ferris are both groups that competed four times in the prep division last year and will look to make progress in their respective programs. Arlington Heights is a program that has steadily grown after the pandemic and has already shown flashes of its Super Bowl halftime-themed show, which promises to be entertaining. Perhaps the most intriguing entrant is Timberview. The group that shocked the world and took down Keller Central at North Texas in 2020 made a quiet disappearance into the pandemic, leaving many wondering “what if?”. Now under the direction of Jason Forte, Cowtown is Viva di Voce’s only competition of 2024. However, they will have the best shot of anybody of making a lot of noise in the morning division.
Middle School Advanced: Hillwood “Harmonics”, Indian Springs “Infinity”, Keller “Legend”, Sunnyvale “Platinum”, Timberview “Ovation”, Trinity Springs “Titanium”
The top three groups from last year (Timberview, Trinity Springs and Indian Springs) all return. Timberview swept all four Texas advanced middle school divisions last year, and they show no signs of slowing down. Trinity Springs got a line of four second-place finishes last year, and they don’t show any signs of change, either. Indian Springs had some variation in their placings last year, and that will be the group to watch as to whether they return to the podium. Hillwood lost longtime director Jodi Coke in advance of this season, and Keller will be making its first competitive appearance ever at this competition. Legend didn’t choose the easy way and is jumping right into the fire in advanced.
Middle School Prep: Ferris “Stinger Choir”, Hillwood “Vox”, Indian Springs “Gold”, Parkwood Hill “Applause”, STEAM “Soundwaves”, Stripling “Swinging Stingerz”, Timberview “Encore”, Trinity Meadows “Agility”, Trinity Meadows “Ignite”, Trinity Springs “Fusion”, Vista Ridge “Musica Pantera”, Wedgwood “Voices of Wedgwood”, William James “Natural Soundz”
2023 was the first time Cowtown split into two middle school divisions, and that competition was affected by ice. A true crack at two middle school divisions will bring happy thoughts to the prep choirs, who will get a full slate of placements along with advanced. Trinity Meadows Ignite came out on top of a loaded middle school prep division at Lone Star last year; they will look to repeat here. Ferris, Stripling and Vista Ridge also stand out as choirs that are either totally new to show choir or are coming back to compete after a long break. It’s uncommon to see middle school show choirs outnumber high school show choirs, but it is definitely a welcome sight to see!
How will it all shake down? Check back on homeroomshowchoir.com next week to see!
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