AMERICA seems to send us pop stars aplenty – but now we’re sending one back, after up-and-coming Mitch Slack received an invite to play at a major US teen-festival.

Mitch attracted the attention of organisers of Nashville’s Hootfest, when his Twitter fans bombarded them with requests for the Rayleigh teenager.

Mitch, 17, says: “A fan messaged me about it. She lives in Illinois and said it was really weird because there are 20 people performing over two nights and everyone else had gone through competitions.

“I had sent the guy an e-mail saying ‘just listen to my stuff’. He said ‘I sent you an invitation two days ago’. Fans had already messaged him and said ‘you’ve got to take this boy’, I was like ‘cheers.’”

Hootfest on July 6 and 7, sees the big US internet stars taking a slot over the two days and plenty of other top acts.

Thousands watch the acts live – and even more online as it goes out to around ten thousand people on a live stream.

Mitch admits: “I’m buzzing. I think it’s going to be great. People say they’re going just to meet me – they’ve supported me for about a year-and-a half.”

Mitch began writing and recording two years ago and built a strong online fan base.

But he says it’s strange for him as he doesn’t often play live locally and doesn’t have the same kind of following he has on Twitter.

He says: “It’s a different environment round here. I’m not well known. I talk to people in America and Indonesia and they’re like ‘how many people know you over there?’ My fans are in other countries.”

Describing his music as pure pop, Mitch says most of his fans are girls.

His songs take their influences from real life. “A couple have been more down-tempo and sad, a couple have been about being in love.”

Mitch has almost completed his first album and plans to release the first single in a couple of months. Follow him on Twitter @MitchSlack or visit www. mitch slack.com