During his high school years, local musician Laine Abbott performed a few small shows around his hometown of Laurelville. This past spring he played in front of nearly 1,200 guests during the Ohio FFA State Convention Celebration.

      And this month he will get a chance to showcase his singing on the biggest stage so far as a finalist in the National FFA Talent Competition.

     Abbot will play in Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis during a session of the 94th National FFA Convention to a crowd of approximately 20,000 FFA members and guests. 

     Throughout the four-day event, 10 acts will perform, each of them selected by a panel of judges from a pool of applicants from around the country. 

     Abbott is the first area FFA member to be selected for this honor. 

     Since graduating, he has been working at a distribution center in Grove City but finds time to practice every day, from 5 minutes to two hours, he said.

     RFD TV will broadcast all National FFA Convention sessions live so anyone can tune in to hear his performance from Oct. 27-30. 

     The National FFA Talent Competition is sponsored by Wrangler and Mahindra.