Playing guitar with prosthetic arm, Jenkins wins Colgate Country Showdown

Jonathan Jenkins entered the 28th Colgate Country Showdown on a whim.

The whim paid off when Jenkins, who has a prosthetic arm, ended up winning the showdown held at Majestic Valley Arena last weekend.

"I was shocked. To be honest I didn't think I was going to make it to (the finals)," Jenkins said Tuesday.

Jenkins, of Kalispell, is the son of Dave and Barb Jenkins. Barb is the owner of The Barber's Shop in Columbia Falls.

"It was a last-minute thing to enter. Then I made the top 25 and the top 15 — that was a complete shock," he said. "I didn't really have much time to prepare."

The winners were selected out of 25 artists and groups chosen for local competition by performing two weekends at the Kalispell Center Mall.

Jenkins hadn't even decided which songs to sing when he began the competition.

He writes his own songs, but one he'd been working on wasn't quiet ready for the early stages of competition.

But by the finals he had the song finished and performed it.

"It was a song I wrote awhile ago, but I didn't finish it until that week," he said.

During the finals he performed "Redemption" and "Born USA," both his own.

Jenkins, who lost his right hand in an accident at the age of 7, has also made a name for himself in the world of powerlifting. In 2006 he placed first in the 220-pound disabled class by dead lifting 435 pounds at the World Association of Benchers and Deadlifters World Finals in Reno, Nev.

Jenkins began playing the guitar at age 14.

In a 2006 interview, he said he was determined to learn to play and purchased a guitar. He took lessons and played by tapping a pick to the end of his hook-style prosthesis, he said then.

He had since taken about 10 years off from playing.

"I recently picked it up again and noticed I could write songs so I guess that time did me some good," he said.

He's written 15 songs so far.

"I just love music and I love playing it — that really helps," he said.

Jenkins said he knew that performing his own songs would give him an edge because artists are given extra points for it.

This was also the first time that Jenkins had performed at a competition as a solo artist.

He said he's performed alone before, but not while being judged.

"I thought it would be good practice to get in front of people. I stuck it out and it paid off," he said.

Jarrod Grubb of Kalispell took second place. Jenkins and Grubb go on to compete at the state competition in Great Falls in August.

Runners-up and alternates were Sunshine and The Belton Boys of West Glacier, and Luke O'Connell of Kalispell.

The winners were selected out of 25 artists and groups chosen for local competition by performing two weekends at the Kalispell Center Mall.

The Bear 106.3 and HANK 95.9 of the Bee Broadcasting group are the local sponsors of the Colgate Country Showdown.