| Abby Paskvan |
Abby Paskvan has made the big leagues.Just go to YouTube and find her singing “God Bless
America” last summer at Great American Ballpark during a Cincinnati Reds game.She’s already contracted for a
return engagement in Cincinnati and to sing the National Anthem for a Cleveland Indians game.The 17-year-old
Bowling Green High School singer has finished recording her third CD of Southern Gospel Music at Chapel
Valley Studios in Sharps Chapel, Tenn.She’ll celebrate the release of the new CD “Travelin’ Back” with a
free concert in the atrium of the Wood County Public Library Sunday at 2 p.m.The CD is devoted to a dozen
old favorite hymns given a more contemporary feel including “His Eye is on the Sparrow,” “I’d Rather Have
Jesus,” “Just As I Am” and “Beulah Land.” These songs are the roots of contemporary gospel music, she said.
“Every one has a different message. Everyone will get something out of it,” she said of the new
collection.These renditions freshen them up with a southern sound of banjo, steel guitar and mandolin.She
was 13 when she first went into the Chapel Valley studio. “At first I was petrified,” she saidWhen she made
a mistake, she tighten up and try extra hard to get it right.“Through the years I’ve established a
relationship with people in the studio,” she said, and is now more relaxed.“I definitely learned to love the
studio.”Still, she said, even the best recording is not as good as the chance to share her music with others
in a live setting.Though she plays up to 40 dates a year around the country, she’s returning to the
library’s atrium to unveil her new work.It’s a comfortable venue for her. “I’ve grown up in the
library.”She’s sung there since she was 10, participating in a library gala performance shortly after the
grand piano was installed in the space, and regularly presenting solo recitals there.The space, she said, is
wonderful for the voice. “You can whisper and still be heard across the room.”Paskvan and her parents Brian
and Rebecca Lentz-Paskvan have not let her burgeoning solo career get in the way of having a normal high
school experience.Not surprisingly that includes a lot of music. She sings in the high school’s choirs and
this spring will play the enchanted wardrobe.Paskvan takes classical voice lessons from local singer Tina
Bunce. “I don’t have the words to describe how wonderful Tina has been,” Paskvan said.That classical
training is essential. “Keeping the voice healthy is important,” she said.That especially true as Paskvan
looks beyond high school to a future career.She’s planning to attend Anderson University in Indiana where
she will study music and music business.Paskvan said she’s “taking the leap of faith and doing music. …
I’m really going to stick with music as much as I can.”If singing “doesn’t work out, if it’s not in God’s
plan, I’ll do something else in music. … It has to be music.”
