Clover Hill will be traveling here all the way from Virginia, and Homewood will be competing here for the first time ever! Grenada, Madison Central, and Tupelo will also be here. Those 5 groups alone would make an amazing finals competition. I'm hoping Brandon will also attend so we can see them go against Homewood, which hasn't happened since 2019.
It is possible (NOT CONFIRMED) that we will see NWR, Prep and Biloxi here too. (They were last year and the year before). We could potentially see Brandon here as well.
That would mean:
Brandon, Homewood, Tupelo, NWR, Jackson Prep, Madison Central, Grenada, Biloxi, and Clover Hill. FINGERS CROSSED. We just have to patiently wait for everyone to release their schedules. And don't forget It's JA's house, so we will likely get to see an exhibition set from JA's very own "Encore".
JASI will be a must see event regardless. If anyone is reading this and contemplating coming to watch, I recommend you do so. It will be the largest collection of some of the highest quality show choir we've seen since Opelika's comp back in 2019.
Opelika 2019 was a LOADED contest. The only big group from that year that was missing was Clinton. Random side note, but I was playing synth for Homewood that year, and in one of the performances that day, the synth was so loud that the pianist had double vision afterwards. (I was right behind her in that setup). Oops.
JASI 2024 may end up being the most competitive Southern comp in the past decade or so. It is easily already looking to be the toughest Southern comp in 2024 as far as the amount of strong, finals-worthy groups. Several groups who regularly make finals at regional competitions will struggle getting into the top 5 here (if all the groups mentioned above attend). Also, West Jones has not released their schedule yet. They have attended this comp in the past, so it's possible that they could be attending as well, making this lineup even more insane (they will definitely be either here or at Mississippi State). We'll see!
Clinton never competes this early, and Clinton nor Petal have ever attended this competition. So it's unlikely we will see either of them here, but you never know! The thought of Clinton, Petal, Brandon, and Homewood at the same competition is honestly mind-blowing. If there was a time for the Southern Titans to all go up against each other though, this comp would be a doable option.
Looking back at old competitions, Homewood's comp in 2017 was possibly the most competitive Southern comp I could find in the past several years. Large mixed groups that year were Clinton, Petal, Brandon, Jackson Prep, Auburn, Madison Central, Albertville, and Oak Mountain. Opelika 2019 and Homewood 2023 were also similarly stacked comps, but I think JASI 2024 may end up being equally or more competitive than all of those.
Some other notable comps…. Opelika 2014 (Auburn, Fairfield, Homewood, Jackson Prep), Petal 2008 (Albertville, Clinton, Tupelo, Mt. Zion, South Jones, Homewood — Albertville beat Clinton in prelims), Jackson Prep 2015 (Petal, Homewood, Auburn, Decatur). The landscape in the South has certainly changed a lot since my time in show choir.
