Randy Weeks had been trying for some time to schedule Kristian Dambrino for his monthly Singer/Songwriters Night at the Blue Parrot Café.
But until recently, she was booked solid because of her obligations as the reigning Miss Mississippi. She passed along her crown in July, and "the next day I pretty much went on vacation," she said.
Now the Delta State University junior has more chances to perform, and she will appear at the Blue Parrot at 7 p.m. Thursday. She will sing, play piano and guitar, and possibly play mandolin or bouzouki as well.
Dambrino has performed at many different venues, including churches, coffee shops, restaurants, hotels and clubs. She has sung at The Alluvian a few times and enjoyed it, calling it "a very classy, artistic environment."
She was glad to accept Weeks' request, and he was pleased to be able to schedule her.
"We're very grateful that she's willing and committed to come," Weeks said.
Dambrino, 21, graduated from Kirk Academy in Grenada in 2003, when she was class salutatorian and Miss Kirk Academy.
She is majoring in graphic design at Delta State.
She has written and copyrighted more than 50 original songs as well as two plays. She also has recorded an album of 14 original songs titled "Red Mind."
Three of her original songs appear on a DVD, "Pearlington's Prayer," with proceeds from DVD sales going toward Hurricane Katrina relief.
Two weeks after Katrina, Dambrino went to the Gulf Coast with her father. They visited Pascagoula, Waveland, Diamondhead, Pearlington and other places devastated by the hurricane. Her grandmother lives in Pascagoula.
She saw 100-year-old homes that had survived Hurricane Camille but couldn't withstand Katrina. She saw "18-wheelers in the ocean floating like dead fish."
She also met people who had to tear down their ruined homes.
"I walked around and talked to people, and it was really something to see," she said. "It was very emotional. I knew I had to do something."
So, in about in hour, she wrote the song "Pearlington's Prayer," and the project grew from there.
For the DVD, a camera crew recorded images of the destruction. The video has raised about $15,000 for relief, and the response has been overwhelming. People from New York, Ohio and other places have e-mailed her to describe its impact on them.
Nearly a year after the hurricane, the Gulf Coast still is far from recovery. And she said that even if she never lands a recording contract, she feels this project made a difference.
"I just wanted to give something back and have a message of hope," she said.
Dambrino, who is interested in a career in musical theater, wrote her first song in ninth grade. It "was far from good, but it was a starting point," she recalled.
Specifically, it caught the attention of Norbert Putnam, who has produced recordings for Dan Fogelberg, Joan Baez, Jimmy Buffett and others.
He introduced her to the work of Joni Mitchell and other artists from the 1970s, and she was struck by the raw emotion of their songs. "I pretty much stopped listening to Top 40 then."
Now college has given her a great setting to exercise her creativity.
If an idea for a song hits her late at night, she might go to the university's music hall or play on the keyboard in her room. "Writing, to me, is something that shouldn't be forced."
She receives many e-mails and calls asking her to perform, and she has a hard time saying no to them - so, she said, "I'm singing all the time."
But she also has an eye on the future. She is considering participating in a performing-arts program in London after graduation that would help her develop her skills in both music and acting.
And whatever she decides to do, she learned something through the DVD project: "I learned how much could be possible through music."
