Saline County’s own Bailey Rhea, age 17, to continue past the auditions round to complete on American Idol. All photos here are from Bailey’s social media.
One of Saline County’s own is “going to Hollywood.” Bailey Bowman, known to many as just Bailey Rhea, attended auditions for American idol in Nashville Tennessee and came out with a golden ticket. That means she is in the competition.
They didn’t show her audition segment, but we just might see her on an upcoming episode. The most recent episode (Season 21, Episode 6) showed the last round of live auditions, so it’s possible we could see her on TV next week. We can definitely see her on Saturday, April 1st though, because she will be playing live at the new restaurant, Station 209 in the Midtown area of Bryant. The show is from 6-9 p.m. that night. Here’s the event link.
You may have already heard the name Bailey Rhea, since she has been a young live performer around town. I personally have seen her sitting on a stool in the courtyard at Valhalla, playing her guitar and entertaining the crowd with a voice like a satin ribbon. When I say young performer, I think she was 15 when I first saw her perform. She’s only 17 now.
This has got to be very exciting for her, but she’s in the club with a few other American Idol contestants to come out of Saline County. Sean Michel was on the show in 2006. Spencer Lloyd competed for the title in 2014. There have been lots more contestants from around Arkansas, and one of them – Kris Allen – won the whole thing.
There’s another Arkansas contestant this year that we know about. Lucy Love was the first audition shown at the beginning of this season. Watch MySaline for updates. And watch for our Arkansas contestants on American Idol beginning April 2, 2023 on ABC. ?