Country singers often joke that they're a "10-year-overnight success" because no one really makes it in this business overnight, right?
That's generally true — but some have a faster route to success than others. About two years ago, Ashton Shepherd was a young housewife and mother from south Alabama who wrote songs and sang them in her backyard shed.
The extent of her professional experience was playing bars in a makeshift band with her husband, Roland, and brother-in-law, Adam Cunningham; Shepherd and Roland both played guitar, while Adam played bass.
She won a talent contest and recorded a three-song demo that by fluke landed her an audition with Luke Lewis, chairman of Universal Music Group Nashville, in January 2007.
"We signed her immediately and sent her in the studio with Buddy Cannon (producer) before she could become affected by Nashville or any of the trappings of the business," said Lewis, the label chairman. "She had plenty of material so we didn't have to hunt for songs."
The result is Ashton's debut album Sounds So Good.
