Charley Jenkins went to Ricks College thinking he was going to join the wrestling team. But his mother had other ideas.

"My mom made me try out — really, literally, made me try out — for a performing group in college, kind of like the Young Ambassadors at BYU," Jenkins said. "And I really fell in love with it."

A decade later, Jenkins is about to make his national TV debut. The Roosevelt native and Murray resident is one of 12 finalists on "Nashville Star," the country music equivalent to "American Idol."

That's right. He lives in Murray, home of "Idol" runner-up David Archuleta. So, is there something in the water there?

"If there is, we'll drink more of it," Jenkins said with a laugh.

His rather unexpected love affair with singing and performing continued after he returned from an LDS mission to Chicago. After he received his associate degree at Ricks (now BYU-Idaho), Jenkins loaded up his truck and headed for Nashville. Within a year, he had a "great job down on Music Row at a song-publishing company. And I was just loving life," he told the Deseret News.

But family brought him back to Roosevelt when his father was diagnosed with cancer.

"When my dad got sick, I just left my job and came home, thinking I would just be home for a couple months. And I would have that job waiting for me when I got back."

His father died about a year later, and by then Jenkins had "started dating my wife-to-be, who lived in Murray. And, the next thing you know, here I am in Murray."

Jenkins married Murray High graduate Brooke; their daughter, Preslee (a variation on Elvis Presley), turned 2 on Thursday.

He lives in Murray, but Roosevelt is still home.

"I love everybody there," Jenkins said. "I know most everybody there. They're like family to me."

His friends and neighbors stepped up when he scraped together $15,000 to produce his first CD — which left him "scared to death."

"But I put it in stores out in Roosevelt, and within a month-and-a-half or so, I had all of my money back, just because of the community there supported me so much," he said. "Every chance I get, I tell everybody, 'I'm from Roosevelt, Utah. And I'm proud of that."'

Jenkins was working just down the road from where the contestants were staying when "Nashville Star" premiered in 2003. He became friends with Miranda Lambert, who finished third that season and has gone on to two Grammy nominations and a string of hits.

"I gained a lot of respect for (the show), watching her career take off," Jenkins said.