Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

 

 

Ray Hamilton, Cordele Dispatch

 

There are some things that go together. We all know about strawberries and crème, and of course peanut butter and chocolate (or is it chocolate and peanut butter? I can never remember). What about agriculture and singing? Not so much… Maybe, that’s about to change. Right here in Cordele a young man has put those two together and apparently it’s not so crazy after all. Ian Mitchell Edge who is a member of the local Future Famers of America is a young man of exceptional talent. He just won the 2024 National FFA Talent Competition. He is someone who will have a great mark on society as he makes his way.

To say Ian has talent is an understatement. This young man has the goods and he knows it. Some people are just gifted and it is obvious to all who have ears. Ian recently competed in a national singing competition in Indianapolis Indiana, and his advisor Eric Dixon was proud when he took home the first place award. Over 200 applicants competed for this accolade. His father, Rory Edge is also very proud. He too is a singer just like his father before him so he knows what it takes to sing at this level. Ian sang at this same FFA national competition last year but did not win. He used that experience coupled with his tremendous resilience and turned that disappointing outcome into triumph this year. He has learned a valuable lesson that sometimes not getting what you want is not the end of the world. He continues to pursue his musical interests. He writes and produces his own music and posts it online for the world to enjoy. At only 16 years of age he has achieved quite a bit and he says God gave me the gift of singing. He listens to a lot of contemporary music along with some old school music form Donnie Hathaway, George Harrison, and Dionne Warwick. That’s a good place to start.