Samantha Casey wins Oreo Jingle Contest

Samantha Casey & The Bluegrass JamHailing from Selma, N.C., at Samantha Casey & The Bluegrass Jam is a two person band comprised of 11 year old Samantha Casey on fiddle, and her dad, Daniel, on guitar and banjo. The two have been performing together for four years now. They started when Samantha was only 7 years old, and performed mostly at churches, retirement homes, and civic organizations.

Now, four years later, at the age of 11, Samantha has just won the Oreo & Milk Jingle Contest. The duo performed the jingle on guitar and fiddle with Daniel singing lead and Samantha carrying the tenor part. The final performance was given in Times Square. The event was hosted by NBC late night talk show host Carson Daly, and broadcast live on national television. The father-daughter duo were also featured on Fox & Friends yesterday morning.

I couldn’t find video of either performance, but you can see their audition tape online at Samantha’s website.

The pair took home a cool $10,000 for their winning performance. They also had their image on the Times Square Super Sign. Samantha commented on the whole affair.

Playing in Times Square with the other groups was really cool. Our favorite part of the contest was seeing ourselves on the Times Square Super Sign and we’re so glad that Oreo made that happen!

The Caseys say that most of the $10K will be saved for Samantha’s college fund.

Interestingly, they are the first winning group in the contest’s history to use instruments; previous grand prize-winning groups sang a cappella versions of the cookie jingle. Carson Daly, didn’t just host the event, he was also one of the judges, and he commented on the winning performance.

Choosing a winning group was tough since all the groups were so great, but this talented father-daughter duo was something special and really brought the Oreo & Milk moment to life.

Any bluegrass fan could have told Nabisco this is the way the jingle should be done!