For a national competition, the Colgate Country Showdown is becoming an increasingly local affair in its later rounds.

First, for the second year in a row, The Mill Casino-Hotel in North Bend will host both the state and western regional finals.

And as always, a local winner, Suzanne Randle of Coos Bay, will represent the area in tonight’s state competition. But she won’t be the only contestant making that claim.

Samantha Rogers of North Bend, who was the showdown’s local winner last year, also will compete as Newport’s local winner, effectively doubling the area’s representation.

The two will face off against seven other acts from Oregon, Washington and California. Because of scheduling conflicts, some local winners compete in a state other than their own.

And if either Randle or Rogers wins, there’s yet another contestant with local ties waiting for them in the Oct. 18 regional final: Dai Kelly, a Coos Bay native and member of Anthony Ryan & the Ridgecrest Wranglers, who won the California state final as local winners from Honolulu. Kelly, son of Dan and Maureen Kelly of Coos Bay, is the group’s bass player.

The path to the regional and beyond for either local contestant is well-worn; the last two state winners came through  contests in Newport and Coos Bay. Cody Davis of Corvallis represented Newport last year when he won state, and 2006 local winner Hailey Stout advanced to the national final, where she finished second.

The contest, a search for the best new act in country music, is sponsored by hundreds of radio stations across the country, including KSHORE and KJMX locally. Contestants are judged on marketability in country music, vocal ability, originality, stage presence and talent, with bonus points available for original music.

In last year’s state final, Rogers was held back by a lack of original music, which most of the other contestants had. That won’t be a problem this time. Rogers, 18, sang an original song as a guest performer at this year’s local final during the Coos County Fair before handing her title over to Randle.

There are no rules that preclude a local winner from competing in the same local contest the following year, so it was unclear why Rogers competed in Newport this time. 

In fact, another repeat Oregon finalist did come from the same local — Scott Perry will again represent Crescent City, Calif.

Other contestants include Tristan Nichols, representing Albany; Nicole Lewis, representing Klamath Falls; Billy Lund, representing Medford; The Boyle Brothers, representing Longview, Wash.; August Night, representing another station in Longview, Wash.; and Lacey D, representing Mount Vernon, Wash.

Judges will include Robert Chaney Sr., who judged last year; Dean Conyers, Pam de Jong and Janice Kendall, who all have been involved in local theater; and others. Contest officials did not have a complete list of judges at presstime.

After performing more than a dozen songs along the way to winning their local contests, contestants will get just two chances to impress this panel.

Randle, 35, said she’ll use both of them to perform original songs. Though she often procrastinated on making her song selections until the deadline during the local contest, this time she knew almost a month in advance what she wanted to sing: “Lovin’ a Man with a Broken Heart,” which she performed twice during the local finals, and a new song, “Letting My Heart Lead,” which she performed for the first time at the Blackberry Arts Festival.

Randle, who returned to Coos Bay last year after six years in Nashville, Tenn., said she is excited about the competition, especially about her new song.

“For years I’ve wanted to write this song, had this idea but wanted it to come across as not totally corny,” she said. “When I really sat down and wrote it, it didn’t take that long.”

Randle also said she posted a new version of “Lovin’ a Man with a Broken Heart” on Myspace. It can be heard at http://www.myspace.com/suzannerandle.

Between local supporters of her and Rogers and those traveling for other contestants, Randle predicted a sellout crowd.

“That’s a nice thing about competing here,” Randle said. “In Nashville, all of my friends would be competing with me.”