Second Cup Cafe: Katie Armiger
Promising newcomer Katie Armiger is just 17, but already has two albums under her belt.
The talented singer/songwriter is a fast-rising star in the country music world.
She was "discovered" only two years ago, when she took the top prize in her division at Houston's Best Country Singer competition, sponsored by a local radio station.
Then, it was on to Nashville.
Armiger wrote ten of the 11 songs on her latest album, "Believe," from Cold River Records. She took center stage in The Early Show Saturday Edition's "Second Cup Cafe," performing two tracks from the new CD.
Critics praise Armiger's strong voice and songwriting ability. She's been compared to country stars such as Sara Evans, Martina McBride and Taylor Swift.
Armiger balances her music career with school; she's currently finishing her senior year of high school, online. She splits her time between Nashville and her hometown of Sugar Land, Texas.
All that traveling, Armiger jokes to The Tennessean.com, makes it feel like her second home is an airplane seat. But it's also, she told the Web site, "so much fun. It just means so much to me, because this whole album has been an amazing process. I started coming to Nashville about two years ago, and this just took off. And singing has always been my dream. We all have a lot to say."
According to The Tennessean.com, "While some may be quick to compare Armiger's work to that of 18-year-old country star Taylor Swift, who, like Armiger, writes much of her own material, the young artists' voices and music are dramatically different. Armiger nurtures her share of teen-appropriate pastimes (the hard-core 'Star Wars' fan loves 'Lord of The Rings', 'Batman' and a good Harry Potter book), but her limber growl and lovelorn lyrics reveal an emotional maturity that underscores those McBride comparisons."
"Still," The Tennessan.com continues, "Armiger believes Swift's success can only help other teen singers such as herself.
"'She opened a lot of doors to a lot of young artists,' she says. 'I think that is awesome. We all have a lot to say.'"
The Tennessan.com added, "Armiger's own ideas show up on 'Believe.' ... (Its songs) focus on the kind of real-life situations plenty of adults still struggle with. That mature leaning, Armiger admits, might come from the fact that the singer looked outside herself for inspiration.
"'(The songs are about) things that may not have happened to me,' she says. 'They could have happened to my friends or my parents, or I watched movies before and wrote a song from them.'"