From singing in a nine-person "mini-choir" made up entirely of her brothers and sisters to belting out Martina McBride songs on a karaoke machine at Iraq's Camp Liberty to winning an Armywide talent contest, Sgt. Christiana Ball's music career hasn't taken a traditional path.

Never mind the fact that she's an active-duty drill sergeant.

Regardless, Ball's winding musical road has at least one more major stop before her planned departure from full-time service in the spring — a Nov. 6 concert at the White House, part of a military appreciation event that will air on PBS the following day and re-air on Veterans Day.

Other performers scheduled to appear at "A Salute to the Troops: In Performance at the White House" include Willie Nelson, Mary J. Blige, John Fogerty, and Marine Corps Capts. Matt Smith and John Ed Auer, who performed, as did Ball, on the Academy of Country Music's "An All-Star Salute to the Troops" concert, which aired on CBS in May.

Ball, a 28-year-old sergeant with 787th Military Police Battalion out of Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, landed that gig thanks in part to her win in the 2013 Rising Star competition, put on by Army Entertainment. She beat 11 other finalists from Army installations worldwide in her third try at the competition, with a big voting boost from her base and the surrounding community.

"My battalion commander and sergeant major, they sent out mass emails encouraging people to go and vote. ... My whole installation, my chain of command, my peers, my drill sergeant buddies, they were texting me, emailing me, and they were pushing it out into the surrounding areas," Ball said.

Her husband Stacy, a retired MP, handed out fliers, rallied Facebook support, even contacted the mayor. It was a far more expansive project than Ball's early singing career, when she branched out from her nine-sibling touring vocal group — "my mom had a mini-choir, I guess" — into solo church performances at age 12 or 13.

Ball enlisted in 2007 and quickly expanded her musical horizons.

"We were a very, very conservative family growing up. I didn't know who AC/DC was," Ball said. "Led Zeppelin, bands like that. ... I got a music education every time I hung out with someone."

While in Iraq for more than a year with 463rd Military Police Company, a noncommissioned officer procured a karaoke machine, and the urge to perform took over.

"That was actually probably the first time I sang karaoke, and I was like, 'Oh, wow, this is pretty cool,' " Ball said. "I had never sang anything like that. I always did church music."

Martina McBride songs were Ball's favorites in Iraq, but she lists multiple country acts as influences. Favorites to perform these days include "Some Gave All" by Billy Ray Cyrus and "Til the Last Shot's Fired" by Trace Adkins.

About a week away from her White House performance, in front of the president and first lady, hundreds of military members and other guests on the South Lawn, Ball didn't know what song she'd be performing, though she and the producers had narrowed the field to about a half-dozen tunes, and she wasn't even sure how she landed the gig, guessing that her ACM performance alongside country star Lee Brice drew some attention.

Ball said she plans to sign a contract with the Missouri National Guard shortly and leave active duty in May. She said she hopes to sing in the state's National Guard band, but if not, would be happy to continue as an MP or in another role.

"I would like to still be able to serve, if I can," she said, "but be able to focus a little bit more on my music."

About Kevin Lilley

Kevin Lilley is the features editor of Military Times.

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