Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
ST. GEORGE — The next generation of artists are hitting the right notes in St. George where the Utah Academy Arts is creating a live album together in hopes of making it big.
For a student at Utah Academy Arts, Emerson Williams, songwriting is more than a hobby.
"Music was like my first love," she said. "I think I wrote my first song in third or fourth grade. It's like a way of showing your mind to people. It's like a journal, but in a song form."
At the academy, Williams and her fellow classmates and musicians learn how to turn their passion into a full-time gig. Growing up, Blake Foster developed a love for music watching his mom play the guitar, piano and drums.
"I had been writing songs on my own. There's so many different parts to it that I didn't realize," Foster said.
Now, he's learning from professionals like Cameron Stymeist.
The songwriter and music producer moved from L.A. to St. George during the pandemic.
"People would travel to me and work on their songs," Stymeist said.
Then he found new clients at Utah Arts Academy.
"I was, like, you guys write songs here? You guys have artists that want to do this for a living? I'm in!"
Right now, the students are getting ready to release a live album; thirteen songs written by students and recorded live in front of an audience.
"We released two singles so far. Already has 3100 plays in the first two weeks," said Stymeist. "To think that someone in high school could write something like this. In St. George, Utah, come on!"
He believes students can build on this foundation and put St. George on the map.
"My dream college is Berklee College of Music out in Boston," said Foster.
"I'd love to move to Nashville," said Williams. "Just getting into the music industry in some way would be fantastic for me."
Their first single is called "you two are cute," and it was written by a junior, Katie Ellis, who won a nationwide artist competition among 7,000 other songwriters. It's available now on Spotify.
