Residents at Fountain View Manor nursing home in Henryetta were treated to a preview of one of the performers scheduled to be on stage at Highway to Henryetta in June.
Mikayla Lane, a 17-year-old singer-songwriter from Mannford, came to town this week as part of an area promotional tour.
She will be sharing the stage June 11 when the Troy Aikman-backed festival gets underway at Nichols Park. During her stop at the nursing home, she sang several of her original songs and visited with the nursing home residents.
This past November she caught the attention of Blake Shelton during a concert in Tishomingo. She was the opening act for the Swon Brothers at Ole Red and Shelton was there to introduce the brothers.
With a sparkle in her eyes, she recounted the visit backstage with Shelton who told her to keep up her musical career.
She released her first EP, “Rooftop Nights,” when she was just 14. This past September, “Miles From Nowhere,” she and band leader John Conrad co-wrote.
She will be the youngest artist performing at the Highway to Henryetta festival.
That is not her only accomplishment however, In her short career she has:
Served as the official ambassador to the nation’s largest youth rodeo in 2021 (Vegas Tuffest Junior World Championship);
Youngest artist to perform at Tulsa’s legendary Cain’s Ballroom;
In July of 2021 the video for her single “Wild Like the Wind” premiered on The Country Network;
August 2021 she played Nashville’s Whiskey Jam, the youngest artist to do so
In October 2020 the video for her single “Superman” premiered on CMT.com. Mikayla co-wrote and co-produced the song.
She has also performed the National Anthem for the Oklahoma City Thunder NBA team.
“The residents were wonderful,” she said after her nearly hour-long concert. “I was happy to entertain them and enjoyed visiting with them.”