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Shortly after moving to Wyomissing, Taylor began to develop an interest in musical theater and appeared in Berks Youth Theater Academy productions. “I played Sandy in Grease . I was an orphan in Annie and did Bye-Bye Birdie and The Sound Of Music .” She regularly made the 130-mile journey to New York to take singing and acting lessons, but auditions in the Big Apple proved a dispiriting experience. Soon another passion

took a grip on her. “I started to realize that what I looked forward to the most was the after-parties, where they had a karaoke machine set up and I could sing country music.” At age 10, Taylor was learning to sing like Faith Hill, the Dixie Chicks, and Shania Twain, Nineties “crossover country” acts that had ignited her love for the genre. Taylor began to sing wherever and whenever she could – at Boy Scout meetings,

garden clubs, local festivals, or hospitals. Her father took her to the Pat Garrett Roadshow, a talent contest in nearby Strausstown, where his 11-year- old daughter won a support slot at an upcoming local Charlie Daniels gig. After watching a VH1 television documentary on Faith Hill, Taylor realized that Nashville was the place to make her dreams reality – and, with the Strausstown success spurring her on, she