Artist shows a different side: Stephanie Rice humbled by hometown honor

n The Regional Music Heritage Center will award its Young Musician Award to Texarkana native Stephanie Rice during the organization's Ragtime to Rockabilly weekend Friday, March 29 and Saturday, March 30.
That Saturday night, she'll perform a rockabilly number at the Arkansas Municipal Auditorium stage, and a Friday night acoustic set at Silvermoon on Broad will allow her to share a different side of her musical self to local listeners.

(Submitted photo)
n The Regional Music Heritage Center will award its Young Musician Award to Texarkana native Stephanie Rice during the organization's Ragtime to Rockabilly weekend Friday, March 29 and Saturday, March 30. That Saturday night, she'll perform a rockabilly number at the Arkansas Municipal Auditorium stage, and a Friday night acoustic set at Silvermoon on Broad will allow her to share a different side of her musical self to local listeners. (Submitted photo)

When singer-songwriter Stephanie Rice left Texarkana for Houston and a new life years ago, she likely never envisioned heading home someday to be honored for her nascent music career.

But exactly that happens in two weeks when the Regional Music Heritage Center awards its Young Musician Award during the organization's Ragtime to Rockabilly weekend Friday, March 29, and Saturday, March 30.

That Saturday night, she'll receive the honor and perform a rockabilly number at the Arkansas Municipal Auditorium stage, where the likes of Elvis and Carl Perkins played decades ago, while a Friday night acoustic set at Silvermoon on Broad allows her to share a different side of her musical self to local listeners.

Rice, now based in Los Angeles with her wife and forever working on that album she longs to release, admits to feeling humbled.

"When they reached out to me and told me they wanted to give me this award, I could not believe it. I'm so honored and also feeling so inspired by it," Rice said from L.A. on a morning when she was taking care of her niece.

With her brother Benjamin Rice, a recent Grammy Award nominee for his production work with Lady Gaga on the "A Star is Born" soundtrack, living in California, too, having that family bond nearby remains special. She recently attended the Grammys, a special and "electric" night.

And the meaning of this award here in her hometown satisfies this hard-working artist.

"They present it to people they believe have a promising career ahead of them, and that just felt so good that the community there believes in me in that way," Rice said, noting she's excited for different reasons to play each night here during this Ragtime to Rockabilly event.

At Friday night's gala preview party, she'll flash a different groove with her music.

"The first night I'm really excited because I'm going to be doing an intimate, acoustic set, which is something I haven't done in Texarkana before," Rice said. "I've definitely done my rock-and-roll side, which I love. But I also equally love the more stripped-down performances."

Expect to hear many new, original songs and perhaps some numbers she sang on "The Voice" two years ago. "Those are always really special to play," she said. She's enthused about the meet-and-greet that night at the cozy Silvermoon venue.

The next night, Rice taps into something new, too, by covering a rockabilly song. That will be a first for her, and she admits she's a wee bit nervous. But she's excited nonetheless and ready to be part of the fun.

"I'm mustering up the gumption and the courage to actually do it," she said about performing "That's Alright," an Elvis rocker.

Rice and the previous winner of the YMA, Texarkana guitarist James Norton, are also discussing the possibility of a collaboration while she's here, she says.

For her Friday night set, the artist inside of her is really excited, she admits. She'll be able to talk for the first time about new, exciting things in the works for her with a big announcement and new music to share, material she's written since landing in L.A.

In L.A., she's worked songwriting sessions and met with producers, where she's exploring different sounds. She's worked with her brother Ben, too.

"I've written a lot of songs now in the process of picking songs that are going to be on the album and finishing up the details," Rice said. For her, things are falling into place at the right time. After "The Voice" experience and touring in 2018, she's started to settle down more in L.A.

"The talent here really blows me away," she said. Although the past month has been cold and rainy there on the West Coast, she loves it with the beach, hiking and a second chance to be close to family.

Other recent highlights in her life came when she spoke and performed at her alma mater, the University of Houston, for its Red Dinner gala, raising roughly $40,000 for an emergency crisis fund for LGBTQ students who were financially cut off from their parents after they came out. She also spoke at the university's First Lecture about the impact her teachers and counselors made.

This next homecoming set of shows follows her appearance here a year ago at Equality Texarkana's Day of Pride celebration. "I still talk about that as one of the most meaningful days of my entire life," Rice said.

She remembers looking at the Gazette the next day and there she was on the front page, holding a rainbow flag. For her personally, it appeared as a symbol of transformation and change. She said she received a message from a young Redwater girl a couple of weeks ago who told Rice that seeing her on "The Voice" gave her courage to come out herself.

"That is why I shared by story," Rice said.

She felt alone as a gay person growing up here, and she knows that others do, too. When she was here for Pride, she was able to hear their stories and have a time when they could simply celebrate themselves.

"That's the most beautiful thing," Rice recalled. Moments like that give purpose to the pain she went through.

The YMA also makes her feel validated about decisions she made in an industry where there are no guarantees. She took risks and quit her job to pursue her dream. Now she's returning without any feelings of butterflies. And she doesn't have the fear, perhaps unfounded, that she may have felt before when she returned home, she says.

"I just feel like I'm coming back home. That's how it feels," Rice said. It feels right to return and reconnect.

Although it was blast to rock out with her band before on previous visits, playing more intimate sets gives folks here a chance to see the kind of show she might perform in L.A., where plenty of smaller live music rooms exist.

Here, she'll perform songs she "one hundred thousand percent" believes in, as she puts it.

"I'm excited to show that side of myself to my hometown," Rice said. "I hope people will enjoy it and also enjoy the new music that I've been putting my heart and soul into. I really believe in the songs, I really believe in the music."

Upcoming Events