Vote now to help Kamiak teacher "make it big"

One of his students describes him as a "real-life Hannah Montana."

It's a pretty accurate description of Chance McKinney - who spends his days teaching math at Kamiak High School and his nights playing country music.

Now he's got the chance to hit it big in the latter category.

McKinney made the top 8 in CMT's Music City Madness contest - and you can help push him forward to the final 4.

The online music video contest pits un-signed talents against each other to compete for votes.

The winner gets a televised national recording session at Nashville's famous Studio 330 on CMT and the opportunity to audition for Valory Music (Taylor Swift's sister label!)

McKinney learned about the contest just days before the deadline to enter, so he grabbed a pre-written song and had his "video guy" (a former student) whip up an entry.

He may be garnering a lot of attention now - but McKinney's no rookie.

He's been playing professionally for a dozen years now, including opening for country music superstars as they pass through the Northwest. We're talking Kenny Chesney, Rascal Flatts, George Strait and the likes.

And that pre-written song? Here's how it came about (in his words) -

"'Be Real' is a song I wrote in the back of a van about 3 years ago. I was traveling home from a track meet in California when the idea hit me. I ended up scratchin' down a few lyrics on the back of an old envelope that was in the bottom of my backpack. 

I remember bein' afraid of forgetting the melody that went with the lyrics as the day went on...so I pulled out my phone (at this point I was on an airplane back to Seattle) and recorded it to my voicemail when the flight attendant wasn't in sight."

You can vote for Chance online by clicking on his name and then clicking "vote." Make sure to do it before Sunday the 22nd at 10 a.m. so YOU can help Chance make it to the final 4.

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Photo from Chance McKinney's Facebook page.