School Boat Trip
Isaac Rhodes is a song and dance man who would like to make music a career.
The 16-year-old junior at Trinity High School has been dancing with Barry Lanham's Foot Stompin' Express since he was 7 years old. Lanham's cloggers performed Wednesday evening at the ROMP 2009 kickoff concert at the RiverPark Center's Cannon Hall.
"Isaac has a good start in singing and dancing," Lanham said. "He shows a lot of potential for being so young."
Rhodes, who also plays guitar, will be at the Kentucky State Fair in August to perform at the Coca-Cola Talent Search. Last year, he entered a district competition for the contest at the Hancock County Sorghum Festival and came in second.
Rhodes' decision to enter the contest was spur of the moment.
"We had just finished a dance show, and the Coca-Cola contest followed," Lanham said. "Isaac literally signed up minutes before the competition, and he placed second overall and first in singing," Lanham said.
Even though Rhodes receives a lot of encouragement from his parents and Lanham, he knows achieving a successful career in music takes hard work and luck.
Eventually, he'd like to live in Nashville to pursue a singing career, he said.
"If the snake bites, I'd like to move there," Rhodes said.
The high school junior has taken voice lessons from a teacher in Music City and has attended workshops there in stage presence.
Rhodes is working this summer on a commercial fishing boat to pay for voice lessons, said his mother, Debbie Rhodes.
Debbie Rhodes and her husband, Marty, have nine children ranging in age from 4 to 23 years old. They live on a farm in Whitesville, raising cattle, chickens and a garden.
"We don't feel we can offer him (Isaac) a whole lot," Debbie Rhodes said. "He has to work for what he wants.
"We regret that on one hand, but we think it's good for him to work and think things out for himself," she said.
Debbie Rhodes did start her son on the right path after meeting Lanham.
"We have a large family, and it would have been difficult for them to be in sports, all going in different directions, so we got them into clogging," she said.
Four of the older Rhodes children are cloggers "and are quite good," Debbie Rhodes said. "And we have four up-and-coming ones."
Isaac Rhodes is the fourth born and the second-oldest child living at home. He has a married sister and a sister in college.
"I can't imagine not living in a large family," he said.
"I have friends who have one or two kids in the family and I think, how can they do that?
"I've been home alone before, but I like my brothers and sisters around," Isaac Rhodes said. "It gets a bit rowdy and there's a lot of yelling."
Everyone has a responsibility, Isaac Rhodes said. Making sure the younger ones are fed when Mom and Dad are working, doing laundry and helping with cleaning are things that will make his life easier when he's on his own, he said.
"I'll be better prepared than someone who didn't learn how to do those things," he said.
"They've all accepted responsibility," Debbie Rhodes said. "Isaac has always been mature in some things, but he's still just a normal kid."
Isaac Rhodes said he likes all kinds of music -- rock, classical, country, gospel, soul and bluegrass. His mother attributes her son's love of music to her husband.
When Isaac was little, Debbie Rhodes, a registered nurse, worked nights, and when she'd call home, she would hear radio music playing in the background.
Her husband loves country music and it "thrilled him" that the kids liked it too.
Little over a week ago, Isaac played at Calvin Ray's Live Music in Leitchfield and he paid an unexpected tribute to his dad, a Buck Owens fan.
"Isaac dedicated (Owens') 'Big in Vegas' to his dad," Debbie Rhodes said.
"He (Marty) said it put a lump in his throat," Debbie Rhodes said.
Rhodes has a return engagement at Calvin Ray's on Aug. 29.
The 16-year-old junior at Trinity High School has been dancing with Barry Lanham's Foot Stompin' Express since he was 7 years old. Lanham's cloggers performed Wednesday evening at the ROMP 2009 kickoff concert at the RiverPark Center's Cannon Hall.
"Isaac has a good start in singing and dancing," Lanham said. "He shows a lot of potential for being so young."
Rhodes, who also plays guitar, will be at the Kentucky State Fair in August to perform at the Coca-Cola Talent Search. Last year, he entered a district competition for the contest at the Hancock County Sorghum Festival and came in second.
Rhodes' decision to enter the contest was spur of the moment.
"We had just finished a dance show, and the Coca-Cola contest followed," Lanham said. "Isaac literally signed up minutes before the competition, and he placed second overall and first in singing," Lanham said.
Even though Rhodes receives a lot of encouragement from his parents and Lanham, he knows achieving a successful career in music takes hard work and luck.
Eventually, he'd like to live in Nashville to pursue a singing career, he said.
"If the snake bites, I'd like to move there," Rhodes said.
The high school junior has taken voice lessons from a teacher in Music City and has attended workshops there in stage presence.
Rhodes is working this summer on a commercial fishing boat to pay for voice lessons, said his mother, Debbie Rhodes.
Debbie Rhodes and her husband, Marty, have nine children ranging in age from 4 to 23 years old. They live on a farm in Whitesville, raising cattle, chickens and a garden.
"We don't feel we can offer him (Isaac) a whole lot," Debbie Rhodes said. "He has to work for what he wants.
"We regret that on one hand, but we think it's good for him to work and think things out for himself," she said.
Debbie Rhodes did start her son on the right path after meeting Lanham.
"We have a large family, and it would have been difficult for them to be in sports, all going in different directions, so we got them into clogging," she said.
Four of the older Rhodes children are cloggers "and are quite good," Debbie Rhodes said. "And we have four up-and-coming ones."
Isaac Rhodes is the fourth born and the second-oldest child living at home. He has a married sister and a sister in college.
"I can't imagine not living in a large family," he said.
"I have friends who have one or two kids in the family and I think, how can they do that?
"I've been home alone before, but I like my brothers and sisters around," Isaac Rhodes said. "It gets a bit rowdy and there's a lot of yelling."
Everyone has a responsibility, Isaac Rhodes said. Making sure the younger ones are fed when Mom and Dad are working, doing laundry and helping with cleaning are things that will make his life easier when he's on his own, he said.
"I'll be better prepared than someone who didn't learn how to do those things," he said.
"They've all accepted responsibility," Debbie Rhodes said. "Isaac has always been mature in some things, but he's still just a normal kid."
Isaac Rhodes said he likes all kinds of music -- rock, classical, country, gospel, soul and bluegrass. His mother attributes her son's love of music to her husband.
When Isaac was little, Debbie Rhodes, a registered nurse, worked nights, and when she'd call home, she would hear radio music playing in the background.
Her husband loves country music and it "thrilled him" that the kids liked it too.
Little over a week ago, Isaac played at Calvin Ray's Live Music in Leitchfield and he paid an unexpected tribute to his dad, a Buck Owens fan.
"Isaac dedicated (Owens') 'Big in Vegas' to his dad," Debbie Rhodes said.
"He (Marty) said it put a lump in his throat," Debbie Rhodes said.
Rhodes has a return engagement at Calvin Ray's on Aug. 29.
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