Door County musician teases appearance on Season 24 of ‘American Idol’

She’s played Steel Bridge Songfest in Sturgeon Bay, Mile of Music in Appleton and Summerfest in Milwaukee, and now Genevieve Heyward is taking a run at “American Idol.”

The former Door County musician who now lives in Nashville shared on Instagram on Jan. 1 that she will appear on Season 24 of the long-running TV singing competition.

“I’ve always wanted to audition since I was a ambitious 6 year old singing at home with my lil karaoke machine and I finally did it,” she wrote. “Tune in Jan. 26th on @abc or stream on @hulu (that feels so crazy to type omgeeee haha) and watch me sing for @carrieunderwood, @lionelrichie, and @lukebryan.”

A 2017 graduate of Badger High School in Lake Geneva, Heyward quickly became part of the Door County music scene when her family moved to the peninsula after graduation. The indie-pop singer-songwriter who plays guitar and piano credited her participation in the annual Steel Bridge Songfest songwriting collaborative as “a huge reason I’m a full-time musician” in a 2019 interview for At the Lake magazine. Her 2019 EP, “The River,” was co-written with Steel Bridge co-founder, Wisconsin native and former Timbuk 3 leader pat mAcdonald.

A touring musician since 2018, the road still regularly brings Heyward back to Door County, northeastern Wisconsin and across the state. Last summer’s trek included dates in Egg Harbor, Fish Creek, Washington Island, Suamico, Milwaukee, Madison and two days at Appleton’s Mile of Music, among others. She did another round of Wisconsin stops in the fall in support of her “Sprinkles” EP, which came out in September.

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Auditions for the upcoming season of “American Idol” were filmed at Belmont University in Nashville last fall. The show will premiere Jan. 26 on ABC, where it’s in its ninth season since being revived after an original run on Fox. It will stream on Hulu the next day.

Ryan Seacrest returns as host, along with judges Luke Bryan, Lionel Richie and Carrie Underwood, with fan voting determining the winner.