With GCU Welcome Week now just days away, Audrey Ketter sat with a piece of news that hit closer to home than most. Dolly Parton — the woman whose foundation had handed Ketter the songwriting award that quietly rerouted her entire year — had passed away. For most people, it was a headline.
For Ketter, a sophomore at Grand Canyon University, it was personal.
The award bearing Parton's name had opened a door in Nashville, one that led to a BMI internship, a night at the legendary Bluebird Cafe, and a stage she never expected to stand on.
To understand why that door mattered so much, though, we must travel back in time a bit. Ketter never would've predicted at this time a year ago all the twists and turns that her life would take in the span of 12 months. Moving from her native Flagstaff for her first year as a Commercial Music major at GCU? Check. An inaugural member of the GCU Club Track and Field team? Check. Dolly Parton Award winner and performer on the prestigious Bluebird stage in Nashville? Check and check.
Wait a minute… what?
"Being the next Taylor Swift doesn't have to be the only way," Ketter said. "Putting music out and having people like it and share stories that people value — and get a memory out of it — that's what matters to me."
 
It's that outlook — steady, grateful, unhurried — that carried Ketter from a year that took her from a pole vault runway in November to the stage of Nashville's legendary Bluebird Café in June.
 
Long before any of that, the homeschooled Ketter was an athletic standout at Flagstaff High School, competing in both cross country and pole vault — a rare combination, given that her coaches in each sport worried the two events called on "such different muscle groups." She qualified for state all four years in both. It was at an NAU meet, watching her jump, that Todd Lehman — then on the NCAA side, now head coach of GCU Club Track and Field — first took notice.
 
"We had been in contact via Instagram before that," Lehman said. "I watched her jump, was impressed and kept the communication going from there."
 
When it came time to choose a college, Lehman saw that the purple feel went beyond athletics.
 
"GCU fit her as a person," he said. "She knew that it was the right kind of school and knowing that we had the club option helped solidify that it was the right place."
 
Ketter arrived at GCU last fall as both a Commercial Music major and on the club track team's first-ever roster in pole vault, the event she'd loved since high school. However, the sport that had always come easily to her had started to feel different.
 
"There's always seasons where you go through mental block," Ketter said. "I hit that block during (high school) nationals. I just couldn't get off the ground, and it was a mental block from there. Going into club, I was hoping a different coach, time and location would help. I loved the people and the coach, but wasn't able to get over the mental blocks, which was pretty discouraging, since I'm a joyful person normally."
 
By November, she made the decision to step away.
"I 'retired' at pole vault and stepped away from the team," Ketter said, "I still love it, but it's just not fun to be bad at something you've always been good at. It was a blessing, because I did need more time to study music."
 
For Lehman, Ketter's decision to step away wasn't one he saw coming — but it also wasn't one he could argue with.
 
"I was bummed for us, because I knew she wouldn't be around much," Lehman said. "I was happy for her because of the goals she had for her music and the other things she was doing on campus. Many athletes end up 'retiring' because their eligibility runs out, but very few walk away under their own terms. It's pretty refreshing when someone her age says, 'I love this, but I have goals, and I'm going to go pursue them.'"
 
Music, as it turned out, had been part of Ketter's life long before she ever set foot on a track. She started piano lessons at age 7 — her parents' way of instilling discipline and craft — and picked up guitar a few years later. By her mid-teens, she was leading her church youth group's worship band.
 
"I was unaware of her musical talents until somewhere in the recruiting process, I saw her post something," Lehman said. "Being a musical guy, I was interested, listened, and was immediately blown away by her talent."
 
That talent would soon take her much further than a Friday Night Live set on campus.
 
Ketter's introduction to BMI — and, in turn, to a legendary legacy — came through the Dolly Parton Songwriters Award, a scholarship backed by the BMI Foundation.
 
"(Dolly is) a BMI affiliate and a champion of it," Ketter said. "My mom looked up the scholarship and encouraged me to apply. I applied when I was 17 — the youngest you can do it — and submitted the lyrics. I was sure I wouldn't get it but would at least know how to apply for it for future years."
 
The credit she didn't give herself was evident to those she applied with, and this spring, her phone rang.
 
"That was the most exciting phone call — that I'd won," Ketter said. "I'd always hoped to meet Dolly Parton to say thank you. Sadly, on this side of heaven, I won't get that chance, but someday, I'll meet her on the 'Golden Road'."
 
The award brought Ketter to Nashville during CMA Fest, alongside her parents and sister Sage, where BMI Vice President of Creative Clay Bradley presented her with the honor and gave her a look behind the scenes of the industry. It was Bradley who first encouraged her to apply for BMI's summer internship program — an opportunity Ketter had to seek out herself, since it isn't widely advertised. Ketter's internship ran for two months this summer, and opened doors for a demo session for an original song, a growing list of Nashville stage credits — and, on a Tuesday evening in late June, a night she never expected: a performance at the legendary Bluebird Cafe.
 
The road to the Bluebird started, fittingly, with someone else's spotlight.
 
During a BMI Block Party event, Ketter found herself singing along in the crowd while artist Lily Meola performed — until Meola pulled her up to sing alongside her. The moment caught the attention of Shannon Sanders, a Grammy- and Emmy-winning songwriter working in BMI's creative department, who took an interest in mentoring Ketter's songwriting. Weeks later, sitting in his office with her guitar, he asked if she'd want to play the Bluebird. She said yes.
 
On June 23, Ketter took the stage at the BMI Acoustic Lounge inside the Bluebird Cafe, sharing a bill with fellow songwriters Charlie George, Josie Sal and Becca Rae. She played five songs — two released ("Golden Road" and "Exit Sign," both written about her grandparents), three not yet out ("Time Zones," "Miley's Song" and "Face To A Name") — performing in the round, guitar in hand, wearing a thrifted dress she never expected to actually wear on that stage.
 
"I knew my Nana would cry to this song ("Golden Road"), but I was touched by how many others joined her," Ketter said. "Hearing all of your stories and how this song impacted you is so rewarding for me."
 
The night stayed with her long after the lights came up.
 
"There were a lot of emotions I felt looking around the room from my new perspective, but gratitude was the most overwhelming," Ketter wrote. "I was so thankful that my family flew out to be there, that people leaned forward in their chairs to listen, thankful that they felt my songs, and grateful that my Nana had tissue for the happy tears."
 
These days, Ketter is looking forward, not just back.
 
She's taking the demo Sanders helped her mix during her final days at BMI and pairing it with her growing resume to find a producer — the next step toward recording five or six songs she's been sitting on. It's a search that will have to happen alongside coursework, since Ketter is on track to graduate in April 2028, and says the degree will help her understand the business side of an industry she's determined to build a career in, on her own terms.
 
So with a heavy heart about Parton, Ketter prepares to return to campus for her sophomore year with life after Club Track and Field. While content with that decision, she's still a bit wistful.
 
Her ex-coach, though, still keeps the door cracked for visits... and beyond.
 
"I really loved it, but probably can't go back, because I don't have the ability to focus on that and on the level of music that I want to rise to," Ketter said. "If he could get rid of my mental blocks, then I'd be there."
 
"I'd be overjoyed if that happened, but that's selfish, because she's such a ray of light and a good person to have around," said Lehman. "It has nothing to do with how she'd do competitively, but that she'd be part of the program more.
 
But she'd better bring her guitar if she does."