Madelyn Victoria Vallejo, performing as Madelyn Victoria, is on the verge of releasing her debut EP. She is shown at a recent performance at Wing Ranch in San Benito. (Staff photo by Michael Rodriguez)
Channeling a heavy, angelic voice characteristic of a contralto’s vocal depth, not to mention a knack for songwriting matched only by an equally charming persona, Madelyn Victoria Vallejo plans to take the country music world by storm, one EP at a time.
The singer/songwriter from San Benito has long wooed listeners with a 956 area code and beyond, playing nearly every honky-tonk in South Texas she could find including a slew of festivals and who knows how many other gigs. Not to mention her successful bid in 2009 as the second runner-up in America’s Homecoming Queen Pageant, a competition she entered after earning the Texas crown.
Taking as much into account, one could argue that Madelyn has enjoyed a successful career, especially considering that, at the age of 20, her résumé already reads like that of any veteran starlet’s on the local scene. But while she remains grateful for the opportunities afforded to her and modest of her accomplishments thus far, achieving small town fame can never be enough for this songbird, whose wingspan may indeed cover an entire nation one day.
At least that’s the plan.
Madelyn, who now performs simply as Madelyn Victoria, wants more. And who can blame her, or stop her for that matter.
Despite the on-going trend of Star Search-style reality television shows and the overnight sensation of YouTube personalities who skyrocketed to celebrity status thanks to their videos going viral, Madelyn realizes that in order to land a record deal it still takes the right amount of talent, exposure and work. She is therefore under no illusions of destiny or fate and has instead appropriately accompanied her ambition with faith and determination – effectively keeping her eyes on the stars and her feet on the ground.
To begin her journey to stardom, she did what any self-respecting aspiring recording artist would do: She wrote some songs and found a way to record them.
Recruiting her brother Albert Vallejo on guitar, James DeBerry on fiddle, Mike Ponce on drums, Rene Gonzalez, Jr. on bass and Shay Bernal on keyboards, Madelyn recorded her first EP – eponymously titled ‘Madelyn Victoria’ – inside Carlos “C-Los” Contreras’ studio in Harlingen. She concluded the mixing process on Monday and the cover art, depicting Madelyn inside a laundromat located on Business 77 in San Benito, has been approved for production. In as little as two weeks, Madelyn’s first record of five original tracks may be available for purchase.
“If you hear the five songs in my EP, they’re all different, and that’s the way I am, very different in the genre of country music,” Madelyn said. “There’s one about my dad and my brother to a typical country beat, and then there’s ‘Sand in a Bottle’ which is more of a contemporary country song with a little bit of an Island feel to it.”
She continued, “The third one is ‘Love of a Soldier’, which is more of rock kind of country and is dedicated to the troops. The fourth song is very upbeat, like if you’d be at a honky-tonk having a good time, and that’s called ‘Country-fide’. Then there’s an acoustic song about grandfathers.”
Meanwhile, Madelyn has been in talks with K-TEX about playing her songs and is looking into booking options with an agent out of San Antonio, longtime Flaco Jimenez manager Amie Victoria Castillo. Once her EP is released, Madelyn plans on touring all of Texas.
“On this EP you can really get a feel of what I can do without being signed to a major label. I had help from some people, but I wrote the melodies and the lyrics,” she said. “Whether I’m at my house or walking at the mall, even at a honky-tonk, I’ll come up with a melody in my head and I’ll write it down or put it on my phone. When I come back to it, sometimes a whole song will just come to me in five minutes.”
It was recording that Madelyn found more difficult.
“With no record label and balancing a job, I had to find a way to give everything to the album. But my parents helped me,” Madelyn said before crediting God and her parents for spiritual support. “My mom and dad right now act as my managers, and I think that’s the way it should be. It’s really a family thing. Right now I’m just getting experience and preparing myself for when a record label approaches me.”
To see this story in print, pick up a copy of the Aug. 7 edition of the San Benito News. Or view our E-Edition by clicking here.
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