Kristy Lee Cook greets hometown fans

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Cameron Cota, 8, gets her soccer ball signed by American Idol contestant Kristy Lee Cook in front of Ray’s Food Place in Selma Saturday.Jamie Lusch

It was easily the biggest thing that ever happened here.

"American Idol" seventh-place finisher Kristy Lee Cook came home and, ensconced at a table in front of Ray's Food Place, she signed publicity pictures for thousands of fans, who stood in a line snaking around the parking lot and held up their kids to be photographed with her.

Cook, 24, didn't sing, which is what won her fame on the Fox TV show, belting out "Rescue Me," "You're No Good" and "God Bless the USA."

"You're completely stressed out, no sleep, like you don't have a brain at times," she said of her weeks competing in Hollywood, but now, for a while, it's nice to be back with friends and family in tiny Selma, training and riding her beloved horses.

"It's been a long road to get to where I am. I've been singing since I was 13. I'm happy I'm finally there," says Cook.

Grabbing up her momentum, Cook plans to take off to Nashville and see if she can sign to a record label and get her career in gear.

Her advice to blooming young artists: "Keep dreaming "¦ you'll eventually get where you want to go."

Delighted kids romped away from their handshakes and autographs, clutching Cook's picture. Said teen Brianna Linden, "She's from here and a really good singer. We all love her."

Coming from Sunny Valley with her small daughter Cameron, Natalia Cota said, "We've all enjoyed her singing so much. It's wonderful for Oregon to have its own celebrity. You have to be talented and down to earth to make it in that crazy world and she is."

Fans will get a chance to hear her again when the American Idol contestants do their singing tour across the country. The only reasonably close venues are the Portland Rose Garden on July 11; Sacramento, Calif., on July 9; and Tacoma, Wash., on July 12.

The country singer's mother, Carlene Cook, busily managed the event, worrying about not being able to get the thousands of fans up to the table for autographs.

"It's been fun, exciting, very emotional. It's wonderful she got as far as she got. God had a big part in it, from the choice of songs to her being in the bottom three times before getting voted off," she said.

Coming from Bend with family members, Teresa Morgan said she watched all Cook's performances and "she had great confidence, held herself up strong and, with perseverance, represented her town beautifully."

Security guard Chris Tuso of Grants Pass echoed the theme — that a star must be down to earth and "real" to make the big time.

"It shows how far a local person can go with some support. She did a pretty darn good job. She was real on TV. This (event in Selma) is real. Like her getting with people who are disabled," said Tuso, gesturing at her posing for pictures with disabled children.

One loyal fan, Lori Colbert of Selma, predicted, "you betcha, she's going all the way, like Carrie Underwood," an "American Idol" winner and country singer who has had great commercial success.

A family friend in Selma, Lacy Miller noted, "She's a local girl. It's a small town and this is 'small town girl does good.' Now the small town is rallying around her."

Cook's mother said she first became aware of Kristy's powerful voice when she'd sing along with music at age 2 "and I thought, whoa, she's got some height!"

Will she make the big time?

"I don't know," said Carlene. "I see her having her own thing going on. Kristy is a little different from Carrie. Kristy grew up on a farm and gets her elbows more dirty. It comes across in her performances."

John Darling is a freelance writer living in Ashland. E-mail him at jdarling@jeffnet.org.

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