By Caitlin Wolfe
DouglasNow.com
Jasmine McDonald, a 17-year-old singer-songwriter from Douglas, is chasing her dream of becoming a country music star.
Jasmine started singing at the young age of 3 years old. With famous inspirations like Dolly Parton, Miranda Lambert, and Chris Stapleton, Jasmine and her grandmother, Donna Clark McDonald, say her passion for singing and music is also deeply rooted throughout their family tree. Jasmine states that with several of her family members being gospel singers, she was always around music starting at a very early age. “I’ve always been singing, whether it was in my house or on a stage,” says Jasmine.
At just 7 years old, Jasmine began performing at festivals across South Georgia with a local music teacher, Gloria Caves. A few years later she signed a record deal with producer Curt Ryle at Clarksville Creative Sound. According to Jasmine and her grandmother, Ryle has written and produced songs for artists like Taylor Swift, George Jones, and Billy Ray Cyrus. With studios based out of Tennessee and Texas, Curt was sent a video of Jasmine singing when she was just 10 years old and he reached out to the McDonalds in hopes of signing Jasmine to the label. Her grandmother states she was “Signed right then.”
As Jasmine’s country music career has advanced over the years, she has accomplished several goals and continues to push forward to achieve even more. Jasmine has won more than 30 trophies and numerous awards from 2018 to 2022, like The Rising Star Award (Texas CMA), Entertainer of the Year, Vocalist of the Year, Songwriter Award, Video of the Year, Ambassador of the Year, and Duo of the Year at NACMA with her good friend and fellow singer-songwriter, Brayden Ryle. She was recently nominated for the Fan’s Choice Award at the Josie Awards Ceremony that will take place on October 23, 2023 at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee.
With two albums out on Spotify, her CD Baby, and several YouTube videos, Jasmine continues to put out new music and perform. Jasmine states she has music videos for about 5 of her songs, some with Brayden Ryle, her producer’s son. Her most recent music video and song titled “Train Station,” has over 3,000 views on YouTube after just 3 weeks online. According to her grandmother Donna, after just 30 minutes of the music video being released, a producer for the upcoming movie “Old Man Jackson” reached out to the McDonalds wanting to use the song in the movie. The movie will be released in 2023 and Jasmine will be attending the premiere.
She has gone from performing at festivals across South Georgia, to crossing those state lines and performing in places like The Bitter End and Greenwich Village in New York City; The Cactus Theater in Lubbock, Texas; The National Hall in Fort Worth, Texas; and The Country Tonight Theater in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. On top of singing and songwriting, Jasmine is a self educated musician as well. She has taught herself to play the guitar, mandolin, banjo, drums, ukulele, bass, and is learning to play the fiddle.
According to the McDonalds, her producer is currently working with a company to set up future tours that Jasmine will attend in places like Texas, Oklahoma, and even Canada. Her next big performance will be at the National Hall in Fort Worth, Texas in November of this year.