Lauren Alaina Reflects on Moving From Small Town to Music City

Things are certainly going well for Lauren Alaina. The 23-year-old won her first ACM Award, for New Female Vocalist of the Year, is touring with Cole Swindell, and will then hit the road with Jason Aldean, and enjoyed a No. 1 hit with her "Road Less Traveled" single.

She also enjoyed a chart-topping single with "What Ifs," a duet with her childhood friend, Kane Brown, from Brown's eponymous debut. The fact that she gets to share their rising star status with Brown makes their success that much sweeter.

"Well, we're from a town where pretty much your family was born and raised there and you stay there and no one leaves," the Rossville, Ga. native shared with PopCulture.com at a recent media event. "You go to high school and college and then you come back home. That just was never my plan. I always knew I was going to be in Nashville. My parents started bringing me to Nashville when I was 11 and I sang in Tootsies and Legends and all of those places during the day with the house bands and started writing [in Nashville] when I was 13, probably, because where we're from originally is only about a two and a half hour drive.

"The lifestyle there is just very different and you do stay there," Alaina added. "People don't think that you can actually leave. So few people do it that it's a hard thing, I think, for them to comprehend. Now we've both done it."

Alaina hopes that she and Brown can both be an example for others who feel stifled by their small-town roots.

"I know that there are a lot of talented people in that area that probably have dreams and hopefully they can know that they can do that, in all small towns, across the country," Alaina said. "I think they're proud of us. I feel like they're very supportive when I go home. I did not feel that way when I was still in high school, but I think people grow up – we all grow up at some point."

Alaina's current single, "Doin' Fine," is in the Top 30. A list of all of her upcoming shows can be found on her website.

Photo Credit: Facebook/Lauren Alaina