Taylor, we knew you when…

Posted August 17th, 2006 at 3:20 pm by Nicki Dugan, Blog Editor

 8 Comments / Filed in: Behind the Scenes, Trends & News

Television talent show junkies out there know that a pigtailed, yodeling 11-year-old named Taylor Ware was a finalist on NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” last night. Well, we’re here to tell you that we discovered her first.

(And we honestly don’t mean to obsess about yodels… but this shtick was too good to pass up.)

During the summer of 2003, we hosted the Yahoo! Yodel Challenge — a quest to find “America’s Favorite Amateur Yodeler.” We soon discovered there are many more closet yodelers than one might imagine. A posse of Yahoos — joined by singer, songwriter, rancher, horseman and none-other-than the voice behind our yodel, Wylie Gustafson, who hosted the proceedings — traipsed across the country to select eight finalists among hundreds of auditioning contestants from New York, San Francisco, Kansas City, Chicago, Seattle, Minneapolis, Los Angeles and Austin. I remember serving as a judge on a particularly warm Seattle morning, the air filled with yodels ranging from delightfully mellifluous to sounds that might emanate from ailing livestock.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, an unassuming brown package arrived at our headquarters from Franklin, Tennessee. Tucked inside was a grainy VHS tape with a little gingham-bedecked girl yodeling her heart out in a barn before an audience of horses. We all looked at each other in knowing silence after watching this phenomenal performance (or maybe we were just thinking back on all those airport check-in lines, hotel breakfasts and staging setups and takedowns). What a voice! And from a four-foot-nothing body! We knew this yodeling protégé had everything it took to win this gig.

And win she did… earning an appearance in a Yahoo! TV ad and a $10,000 prize, which she said would be allocated toward a puppy, pierced ears and a college degree. Oh, and Taylor was invited to be one of the 1,773 people who helped us break the Guinness record for the world’s largest group yodel in our cafeteria.

Check out a little video montage below that we pulled together to demonstrate just how cute those pigtails were three years ago (and here’s our Flickr set with Taylor, Wylie and more contestants).

Taylor, congrats to you. Whether you win tonight or not, can we have your autograph?

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8 Comments Add your own

Brinke Guthrie | August 17th, 2006 at 8:52 pm

Nice yodel; but what happened to the yodel sound on the new Messenger?

daugherb | August 19th, 2006 at 12:06 am

Check out Taylors Finale performance on Americas got Talent http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K29yPxlgqHQ

afandan | January 12th, 2007 at 1:41 pm

I’m A big Fan of yodeling,and Taylor is a top notch yodeler(very inpressive)!!!(I know of a lot of yodelers)

El n nicki | May 23rd, 2007 at 2:10 am

yoooooooo ur beat is wikeeed awesome!! we r ur biggeet fans.. im getting ma hair cut just like u :)

bill mccarron | May 24th, 2007 at 10:50 am

wow!!!!!!

bill mccarron | July 12th, 2007 at 8:43 am

enjoyed your yodeling many times.hope to see you more.

bill

Stefan | January 10th, 2008 at 9:30 pm

WOW - SUPER :) very very good !!!!

Ed | March 18th, 2008 at 1:55 pm

I was never a yodeling fan, till I heard Taylor !
This young lady has more talent than anyone I have
ever heard ! I go to her sight every day, and I
never fail to get tears in my eyes ! She is so good !