Born and raised in the small town of Clinton, MS, Shelly Fairchild grew up in a musical family where everyone sang. After receiving her first guitar at the age of six, her aspiration to be a country singer was set. Soon she was singing at school music events, community functions, and state fairs, and competing in talent competitions. At Mississippi College she majored in communications and theater while earning a minor in music. She appeared in local stage productions of Always Patsy Cline, Grease, and Godspell, and was a member of a national touring company for the musical Beehive. In 2001 she moved to Nashville, where she hoped her fiery stage show and powerful, blues-inflected voice (not to mention her rock & roll attitude) would attract some attention. It did. Fairchild signed with Columbia Records Nashville, and her first single, "You Don't Lie Here Anymore" (written with Sonny LeMaire and Clay Mills), was released late in 2004, with another Fairchild original, "Tiny Town," supporting it. Her debut full-length, Ride, produced by veteran Buddy Cannon and guitarist Kenny Greenberg, saw release early in 2005 on Columbia. ~ Steve Leggett