Whanganui country singer Lexi Hirst, 10, features on national livestream

10-year-old country singer Lexus Hirst. Photo / Supplied

A 10-year-old from Whanganui is yodelling her way to online stardom.

Lexus Hirst has been singing since the age of six and has won numerous country music competitions over the last four years.

In 2019, she, her mother Samantha Hirst, and vocal teacher Elaine Holden travelled to Tamworth, Australia, to compete in the Coca-Cola Battle of the Young Stars, where she won the junior overall competition.

During the Covid-19 level 4 lockdown, The New Zealand Country Music Association selected performers from around the country to perform a live-streamed concert through their Facebook page, and Lexi gave a half-hour performance on Tuesday, April 14.

A "soundcheck" video for the live-stream, featuring Lexus yodelling, has already been viewed close to 30,000 times, something Lexus' mother Samantha said was "a bit of a shock".

Lexus sound check for tommrow

Posted by Lexus Hirst on Sunday, 12 April 2020

"It was a great way to give people out there a little bit of entertainment, and any donations that were made were divided between the 28 performers that took part," Samantha said.

"Musicians everywhere are bound to have had a certain amount of income taken away during the lockdown, so to be able to be a part of something like this was really cool."

Lexus said she was "really happy" to be part of the livestream series, and that she'd been playing "lots and lots of guitar" during the lockdown.

Vocal teacher Elaine Holden had been instrumental in Lexus' successes so far, Samantha said.

"Lexus and Elaine have worked really hard together over the last few years, and I'm more on the costume side of things."

Lexus said she it was Elaine who introduced her to yodelling.

"Elaine has a song she sings called 'Love Sick Blues', and I was really trying to get the vocal flip part at the beginning.

"I finally got it, and I've been yodelling in competitions ever since."

Lexus will take part in the NZCMA Entertainer of the Year event to be held at the Great Lake Centre in Taupo in October.