Back in 2005, when she was voted off of the final, nationally televised leg of "American Idol" after months of intense scrutiny, grueling competition and high-pressure regional elimination rounds, there is no doubt that Louisiana native Lindsey Cardinale walked away a solid winner. At every step along the way, the young singer impressed judges and millions of fans with her perfect poise, unwavering professionalism and the kind of pure-country voice that gets to the emotional core of a song to reveal every drop of emotion therein.
Between completing her college degree and fielding countless offers and opportunities, Cardinale's post-"Idol" life has been a whirlwind. It's all very exciting for the 23-year-old beauty, but she's also been singing pure, traditional country songs as long as she can remember, and she learned long ago to take it all in stride. For Lindsey Cardinale, music has never been about winning contests, and her 'Idol' experience provided her with a once-in-a-lifetime crash course in the business where she is destined to make her mark as a singer and songwriter.
"The whole 'American Idol' experience absolutely made me stronger," Cardinale says. "I knew something great was going to come out of it, and now, two years later, I have so many opportunities on my plate. I would never have had that chance had I not decided to go to that first audition. I learned a lot on that show, not only about professionalism, but I also learned that this business isn't always a walk in the park; it's hard work and long days."
Cardinale grew up just north of New Orleans in the small town of Ponchatoula with her older sister and two loving, but not particularly musical, parents. According to the singer, that talent skipped a generation and descended from her gifted grandmother.
"My mom's mother had a twin sister, and reportedly they could sing like angels," Cardinale says. "I am the 26th grandchild – the youngest – and I'm the only one who never met her. So everybody in our family is like, 'She gave you something.' The fact that I always wanted this to be my life and my career is something where we always look back on my grandmother, because she and her sister could sing so well."
Wherever it came from, Cardinale's talent is both rare and exceptional and totally homegrown and natural. Back in elementary school, friends were constantly asking her to sing, but her parents paid little notice until a special film took things up a couple of notches.
"My favorite movie when I was little was 'The Little Mermaid,' and 'Part of Your World' was the first song I sang that made people say, 'She's not your average kid, she can really sing,'" Cardinale recalls. "Then, when I was 7 or 8, I got a Singalodeon, a little karaoke machine which I still have. It's just a little bitty thing but it got me a long way. When you're little you think you can do anything, and I thought I was Dolly Parton. I began singing harmony before I knew the true meaning or really even knew what I was doing… it was really neat.
Along with singing all the time, she grew up working as a waitress/singer at a Gospel Music Restaurant, The Country Village where she sang with the house band. Although she can still hold her own sitting behind a drum kit, Cardinale found her main instrument shortly after those drum lessons, and she was off and running.
"I just love the guitar," she states. "I picked it up when I was 14. My parents would tell me, 'But we just bought you a piano,' and I’d say, 'I know, but I can't carry that around!'"
She was soon lugging that guitar to regular gigs at schools, fairs, weddings and to Ponchatoula's biggest event, the annual Strawberry Festival.
"I started doing lots of things locally," she says. "I did the big Strawberry Festival every year, and talent show after talent show. Singing began to be my label at an early age.”
The wide-ranging material she performed on "Idol" – from big ballads like Karla Bonoff's "Standing Right Next to Me," and Motown classic "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" to soul workouts like Wilson Pickett's "Knock On Wood" – were proof enough that Cardinale can indeed do it, but word of her talent was spreading throughout the industry even before her nationwide "Idol" exposure. A Nashville-based cousin of Cardinale's played some of her songs for country music's Carl Jackson, and the veteran songwriter/producer/multi-instrumentalist – who's worked with everyone from Dolly Parton to Merle Haggard to Emmylou Harris – was so impressed by the singer and her encyclopedic knowledge of classic country songs that he invited her to his home in Nashville.
"I went up there in 2003, before my freshman year of college," Cardinale says. "We sat in Mr. Jackson's living room and played, and he was just wonderful. We sang and sang, and he asked if I harmonize and I said, 'Yeah, sure,' so we harmonized on 'Mama Tried.' He said, 'Wow, your voice is amazing,' and that made that moment something I will never forget."
Cardinale has won over millions of fans and made some lifelong friends over the course of her amazing creative journey of the past few years. One of those friends, country star Carrie Underwood, went on to win that 'Idol' competition back in 2005, and the two small-town southern girls have remained close as their respective careers have developed.
"Carrie and I talked a lot about what we would do if we made it," Cardinale says of her good friend and former rival. "She's done everything she said she would do and I truly could not be more proud of her. She has worked amazingly hard for where she is today and deserves every bit of it. I remember the long days and nights we spent learning lyrics and just simply not getting enough sleep; she’s right where God wants her to be."
Where Underwood has a pop-singer's tendency to soar vocally, Cardinale smolders, with a smoky, deep-southern-soulful style that is distinctly her own. It's a voice that millions of country music fans have already embraced, and with her debut album just around the corner, Cardinale can hardly wait to give them more.
"It's really unbelievable, because this is something I've wanted since I was a little girl," she says. I never dreamed of getting the opportunities that I come face-to-face with now. God has a plan, and I’m not ashamed to say that I love God and am proud of my faith.”
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