Crystal

Natural Talent + Opportunity + Hard Work = Success
- Michael Johnson
The best and most beautiful things in this world cannot be seen or even heard, but must be felt with the heart.
- Helen Keller
Crystal Hoyt sits crossed-legged on a beat up dressing room couch across from me; her shiny blond hair is pulled neatly away from her face and her make-up is stunningly perfect. She laughs and her animated laughter fills the dreary room. “Every time I say that, I get the same look. I forget that not everyone knows.”
She is right, not everyone knows which makes me think about all of the things we don’t know about one another. So, I ask Crystal to tell me more, to take me back and introduce me to the girl I don’t know.
“Back then (my teenage years) I didn’t realize that some people were trying to bring me down only to make themselves feel better about their own insecurities.” As she says this, her piercing blue eyes show the strength of her response. She continues, “I would tell my 18 year old self, ‘It’s ok.’ You’re about to lose all that weight and you'll be a much stronger person for everything you're going through now." And, this comment, this honest expression about her weight and her battle with it, this is the that that not everyone knows.
It is this declaration that allows me to realize that the spark in Crystal’s brilliant blue eyes, and the zeal in her hearty laugh come from her understanding of life. Crystal lived on the other side of acceptance and this duality has made Crystal Hoyt a driven woman. It also made her realize that giving up her dream was just not an option.
“Five years ago I had quit singing, given up on music career and decided to settle down be a working woman. I enjoyed the work I did, but it never fulfilled me the way that music always had. I felt like I had lost my identity, and I had never felt so empty,” Crystal states.
“After about 3 years,” she continues, “I decided to get back into music. It was time to pursue it full time. I basically didn’t sleep for two years so that I could work a “regular job” and still write and perform almost full time.” It is apparent that her work ethic is deeply sewn into Crystal’s being and although her teen years strengthened her drive, I can sense that there is a deeper source.
“I was born in Cheneyville, La. We lived on a large farm that had been in our family for several generations. My dad and his brother ran the farm,” I can see the admiration in her eyes.
She softens when she speaks of her parents, and of the hard working lifestyle they led. I can also hear the gratefulness in her voice, “My parents are amazing. They have supported me from day one. My mom drove me to every acting lesson, dance lesson, piano recital, drama audition, modeling job, musical performance, beauty pageant, and then at the ripe old age of 19, she trusted my judgment enough to help pack my bags to move me to Nashville.”
Crystal doesn’t have to say anything about her Dad’s support because she knows that I just met him. From the minute that he walked into the dressing room I could see the pride in his eyes. It is well-deserved pride, after all, his daughter is on Toby Keith’s Big Dog Daddy tour where she is part of the opening entertainment. But that isn’t where his pride in his daughter comes from. He was just as proud of his 3 year old Crystal.
“I first remember singing and one of my older cousins taught me Ronnie Milsap’s “What a Difference You Made in My Life”. I learned it word for word and performed an a cappella version at the annual local Farm Bureau conference. As I was leaving the stage my mom motioned to me to go back and take a bow. So I just bent right over and bowed to the audience, showing everyone my white ruffled panties,” Crystal says with a laugh.
Her father’s pride comes from this, from seeing his daughter be exactly who she is, the little girl in ruffles who is not afraid of “exposing” her true self.
It takes people awhile to figure out what Crystal Hoyt has come to understand. Her talents have taken her to Cuba (to perform for the troupes), to Nashville (where she is a well-respected singer), to travels across the country as the lone female in Keith’s attention-grabbing trio, TRAILER CHOIR and her beauty has brought her accolades.
While all of these blessings are important to Crystal, more important are the lessons learned, “…to stop trying to please other people, and remember that people should love me for who I am.”
I think we can all thank Crystal for reminding us the most precious lesson of all, that of unconditional love and that who we are is exactly who we need to be. Crystal Hoyt has certainly gained more than she has lost; and for the first time, in a long time, I don’t think she minds.
Erica Ebert Connell_____________________________________________________ ________
Performing the NATIONAL ANTHEM for the Nashville Predators '06
____________________________________________________________ ____

| |