Mark Bennett: Pivotal moments set performers on lifelong path in music

Sep. 14—More than 22,000 fellow U.S. military service members deployed in Iraq cheered as Erin Oransky sang the closing notes of the "Star Spangled Banner," moments before country-rock icon Charlie Daniels took the stage.

"It was an unreal event," recalled Oransky, who was then serving in the U.S. Army's 138th Quartermaster Company from Brazil, Indiana.

That day in 2009 further fueled Oransky's passion for musical performance. It's allowed her to open shows for not only Daniels, but also Los Lonely Boys and Joe Nichols, entertain fans at Indianapolis Colts and Indianapolis Indians games, sing with the worship group at her church and her band Jus' Playin' Jayne, and perform "America the Beautiful" with the 18th Infantry Division band before 300,000-plus fans at last May's Indianapolis 500.

For Melissa Milbourn, the pivotal moment in her path as a musician came in more subtle fashion.

Milbourn, then 29 years old, was driving through Terre Haute while working as an advertising salesperson for a local radio station. She pulled off the street and into a theater parking lot.

"I felt like God was asking me to surrender my dreams for his," Milbourn, now 56 years old, remembered this week. "So I did."

On that day, the pianist-guitarist-singer — who grew up aspiring to be a country music star like Barbara Mandrell — decided to start leading worship music in her church. As a result, Milbourn has toured America leading music at women's faith conferences and serves as worship and media director at Marshall Baptist Church in Illinois during her 40-year career.

Now, Oransky and Milbourn are headed for induction into the Wabash Valley Musicians Hall of Fame.

They join a group of 14 musicians to be inducted in a dinner, ceremony and jam session, beginning at noon Sunday in the Zorah Shrine at 420 N. Seventh St. in downtown Terre Haute. (Tickets are $15 per person and include a meal, and are available at the Music Shoppe at 1427 S. 25th St. or from any Hall board member. For questions, contact Andrew Hayes at 812-243-4598 or John Beeson at 232-4095.)

The Hall of Fame's Class of 2023 also includes Irish fiddler and guitarist Randal Bays, bassist-guitarist Art Blankenship, keyboardist-drummer Mike Cruse, multi-instrumentalist and music educator Brad Ennen, vocalist-keyboardist John Henderson, singer-guitarist-keyboardist John Hennessy, composer-instrumentalist Brent Lindsay, bassist Bill Pine, trumpeter Steve Shaw, drummer Jim Thistle II, guitarist-bassist-drummer Matthew Westerfield and multi-instrumentalist John Wheat.

Oransky, now 46, has looked up to Hall members, many of whom she's performed alongside.

"All of them are great mentors and role models and fabulous musicians," she said.

Oransky started singing for audiences in church as a teenager growing up in Martinsville, Ill., and later Ohio and Indiana, though she expressed an intention to be a professional musician several years earlier. "I would entertain anybody who would listen," said Oransky, who graduated with a music business degree from Indiana State University.

Her interests grew to include country and 1980s and '90s rock by female singers such as Pat Benetar and Melissa Etheridge. The roster of bands Oransky performed with eventually included Jus' Playin' Jayne (a play on words of her former last name) and We Jus' Playin' — with talented lineups that recorded their own original music.

Oransky's performaces with fellow military service members have been "really cool opportunities." That includes winning a 2009 talent contest while deployed with the U.S. Army 138th Quartermaster Company at a Marine Corps air base in Iraq. Oransky competed against fellow soldiers who danced, performed comedy and sang. One was a woman who did a Hula dance in a traditional outfit as 22,000 military service members — including thousands of men — watched.

And, the winner was determined by applause.

Oransky won. "How I won in that situation ...," she said, marveling at the memory.

That outcome allowed her to serve as an opening act for touring musicians who performed for the troops in Iraq. Those performers included Charlie Daniels, the fiddler-singer of hits such as "Devil Went Down to Georgia," "Uneasy Rider" and "Long Haired Country Boy." Oransky talked with Daniels before the show. After their performances ended, a crowd clustered around Daniels. He spotted Oransky nearby.

"He stopped talking to everybody and made a beeline right toward me and said, 'Darlin', you shore can sing,'" Oransky recalled. "And that just made my year."

She now lives in Avon and guides a vocal team of 15 Indiana Guard members from the Army, Navy and Air Force that performs in various combinations. "It is never anything I take for granted and I'm just blown away by the events I do with them," Oransky said.

Similarly, Milbourn displayed musical talent as a little girl, also growing up in Clark County, Illinois. According to family legend, Milbourn as a 4-year-old heard the Oscar Meyer wiener theme song, walked over to the piano and picked out the melody.

"That was kind of the start of it," Milbourn said.

She took piano lessons from her Aunt Marge Thompson from age 7 through 13. Eventually, Milbourn learned to play piano and guitar by ear, and still does at age 56.

"If you were to put a sheet of music in front of me, I wouldn't know what to do with it because I play by ear and chords," she said. "Most worship musicians do."

After committing to serving as a worship music leader, Milbourn connected with Proverbs 31 Ministries, a women's faith organization. Once the group's website listed Milbourn as a recommended worship leader, that connection put her on a tour of communities around the country, typically performing solo.

Those sessions included leading worship at seven Wabash Valley Ladies Unity Nights, a formerly annual event. Twice, Milbourn performed before crowds of 5,000-plus women assembled in Hulman Center for that event.

Indeed, that parking lot moment years earlier set Milbourn on the path toward such worship opportunities. "It, for sure, changed the trajectory of my life," she said.

And while she set aside pursuit of country music stardom, Milbourn had a special experience in that circle. She got to meet members of Barbara Mandrell's family, which led to the famed singer herself calling Milbourn by phone "out of the blue" on Milbourn's birthday. Mandrell sang the "Happy Birthday" song to her.

"It was really a blessing," Milbourn said.

Mark Bennett can be reached at 812-231-4377 or mark.bennett@tribstar.com.