Airdrie musician Christian Hudson kicked off  the Calgary Stampede with a stellar performance on the Coca Cola stage.

The 19 year old singer songwriter played a set packed with both originals and covers, before an eager Stampede crowd.

"It was kind of overwhealming, it was a lot better than I anticipated, but mostly because I was running worst case scenarios through my head the whole time," said Hudson. "But when it turned out to be such a great scenario, it knocked me off my feet."

Hudson announced that he will be travelling to Ireland to shoot a video for his song "Four Leaf Clover".

The evening's show did not go off completely without a hitch, as the guitar he had planned to play broke a string early in the set, leaving the youn musician to rely on his faithful "little Martin" guitar.

In terms of preperation for his Coca Cola Stage debut, Hudson took the minimalistic approach:

"I don't wanna say I procrastinated, but it didn't really hit me until just this month, and then I locked myself in my basement and went top to bottom, top to bottom over the set."

To cap off his performance, the Airdrie native received the Calgary tradition of a 'White Hat Ceremony', for his contribution to the Calgary Drop-In Center, and his continued success in his music career.

Following his show, Hudson invited a group of excited fans backstage for a meet and greet.

A little under one year after winning the SLAM on Air songwriting contest, Hudson will be joining in his new role of a judge.

Hudson says he looks forward to helping out and contributing with local music in Airdrie over the next year.