But family connections aside, Carter proved to be a talented singer and songwriter herself. An early demo tape of hers wound up in the hands of Willie Nelson, who, impressed with what he heard, invited her to Farm Aid in 1994. There she was the only female solo artist on a bill alongside John Mellencamp, Kris Kristofferson, Neil Young and others.

Two years later she became one of Nashville's hottest new stars, thanks to her debut album, Did I Shave My Legs For This? The album went on to sell more than 5 million copies, and its lead single, "Strawberry Wine," became a No. 1 smash hit in 1996 and landed Carter a GRAMMY nomination.

Carter would go on to release seven more albums before she took a break to raise her son, Hayes, who is now 9 years old. And she continued to write: Her 2003 album I'm Just a Girl, in fact, included "You and Tequila," a song she cowrote (with Matraca Berg) that Kenny Chesney later cut on his album Hemmingway's Whiskey. "If it wasn't for this song I wouldn't have had a new record and I'd be working at Walmart," Carter quipped from the stage during a recent show (Dec. 4) at Joe's Pub in New York City.

So yes, after several years away from music, Carter has now released a new album, Southern Way of Life.

In an interview with Radio.com, Carter talked in depth about the album as well as her past recordings. She also told us about her experience writing songs with Kacey Musgraves � and why that was so inspirational for her � and discussed how she feels the TV show Nashville (which she auditioned for) represents the music community.

Radio.com: Southern Way of Life is your first album of original music since 2005. Were you nervous about getting back into the studio?

Deana Carter: I wasn't nervous. As subliminally as I faded out, it wasn't something I planned on doing. It was a choice I was making to focus on my child. Before you know it, five years had gone by. Coming back into the scene has been the same way. It was a gradual three, four years of writing, working with new artists, producing other people and organically having a lot of new music and going back into the studio and picking the ones I wanted to focus on [for the] record. I wanted it to be a collection that people could grasp.

"Do or Die" is so striking, and your fans seem to agree, as they voted it to be the album's first single. You've mentioned that you were surprised. Why?

I cowrote all these songs except for "Do or Die," [which] I wrote by myself. I used to write all the songs by myself because I felt like I could. When I was young it was just pride and fear. Now, it's the opposite. I appreciate the help and the collaborating and that partnership. And that comes from age � you appreciate people helping you with anything.

"Do or Die," it was like, "Is it objective, is it too dark, is it too honest, is it boring? I talk about Jesus not by name, but by description. Is that going to offend anybody?" It's just self doubt. I really prayed about it because that song was the starting point for a turnaround, and that's where I'm at and that's why we're here. When the fans were picking that song above the more uptempo songs, I was shocked. But it was such a compliment and affirmation to keep putting one foot in front of the other. It really encouraged me to keep going through this and to finish the record.

You've written two tracks on the album with Kacey Musgraves ("I Don't Want To" and "That's Just Me"). Do you see some of yourself in her?

Absolutely. I'll never forget the minute I walked in the door to our first writing session and she's in the room sitting there with her guitar and she had it in open tuning. I was like, "Oh my gosh! This one knows what she's doing." You never know what you're going to get [in a songwriting partner] � if they want to just sing or if they want to do lyrics. When I heard what she was playing on her guitar, I thought, "Oh my gosh, I used to do that. Now I'm so focused on writing, have I lost it?" Writing with her really did remind me of the point in my 20s where I used to write totally free. I would write everything and anything, no genre. That was really exciting to walk in that room.