the summer before her senior year of high school, she worked as a performing musician at the "ozark jubilee", a long-running country music show in branson, missouri. in 1989, immediately after high school, she landed a position in a musical production at opryland usa, a now-defunct theme park in nashville, tennessee. she lived permanently in nashville until 2008. in 1993, harold shedd signed her to mercury/polygram, and her first album was released in 1994 on the polydor label.