Outfitted in a simple polo shirt and baseball cap, strapped with just a guitar and a microphone, Michael Easterday croons into a camera.

Although he is alone in the video, he is singing to the nation, with hopes of winning Country Music Television’s “Music City Madness” competition.

“I prefer just me and the guitar ’cause it’s just more raw,” Easterday said. “If anything, you can just see it’s just me and not all the fancy recordings.”

Easterday, a political science senior at ASU, is competing in the online talent search competition, “Music City Madness,” featured on CMT’s Web site. The competition, for unsigned country acts, gives fans the chance to vote online for their favorite artists.

Easterday submitted a video performance of his original song “Why Didn’t I Kiss Her” and was one of 64 selected as a finalist.

“I had waited and had been hoping I would be chosen,” he said. “I was pretty excited [when I found out] and called my parents and friends and they were excited, too.”

Easterday has advanced to round three of six in the competition and will have to beat out 15 other acts to be crowned the winner. Currently, he is pitted against “The Electric Cowboys.”

“It is really apples and oranges,” he said. “I think we are both so different because they are a full band with a live performance recording, and I am one person with a guitar. It really comes down to what the voters like.”

The grand-prize winner will be announced Dec. 17 and will win a trip to Nashville to record an episode of CMT’s online series “Unplugged at Studio 330,” an audition with Warner Bros. Records and a mentoring session with country star Randy Travis.

Easterday, a Yuma native, was encouraged by his mother to enter the competition. Although he has always been a fan of country music and has loved to sing, he taught himself how to play the guitar only a few years ago.

“When I realized I could play and sing, it made it a lot more fun and a lot more realistic as a career goal,” he said.

Easterday’s older sister Chelsea Riesland said he was always singing as a child but refused to take any formal music lessons.

“No one in my family is musical at all so its kind of surprising that he has shown so much talent,” Riesland said.

In addition to his success in “Music City Madness,” Easterday has found success on YouTube. Last summer, he began recording videos of himself singing and playing the guitar and posted them on the Web site.

Now he has over 40 videos of himself performing songs like “Love Story” by Taylor Swift and has accumulated 2,200 subscribers.

“YouTube has helped me gain exposure,” Easterday said. “I get a lot of feedback from people from around the world, which is very cool.”

Easterday is also the lead singer of the five-piece Mike Easterday Band. After searching for bandmates on and off for two years, the band finally came together and played their first show a few weeks ago.

“We’re just trying to put our foot in the door and get to bigger and better things,” he said.

Next up, the Mike Easterday Band is set to play at San Tan Flats in Queen Creek Nov. 21 and 22.

The band’s lead guitarist, Bryan Herman, began working with Easterday a number of years ago after they discovered each other on Craigslist.com.

Herman primarily plays country music and said right off the bat, he liked Easterday’s voice.

He has encouraged him in “Music City Madness” and thinks he should keep trying out for similar talent competitions.

“The more people he gets exposed to, the more chance he gets on being noticed,” Herman said. “Even if he gets turned down, it’s important to be persistent. That’s how a lot of country stars make it.”

Reach the reporter at wclark4@asu.edu.