© Sammi Moore.

Whitwell's a one-light town; no big business, no fastfood chains.  "There's the Whitwell Dairy Bar ... the Tiger Paw," recalls Moore. "Oh, and Sheryl's, which is a gas station converted into a restaurant." She laughs at the description of Whitwell's finest. "There are no signs for Sheryl's. It looks like an abandoned building, but it's not.  You just gotta know," Moore laughs.  Though technically living in Whitwell, Moore spent most of her time in Jasper which now boasts three red lights and a Sonic drive-in.  During her sophomore year at Marion County High School, Moore sang for the first time as part of the talent competition for a scholarship pageant ... after having a slight panic attack back stage before the show, she pulled herself together and ended up winning.  Ironic, really. Once I entered that talent competition and started singing at local events, I realized singing was something I really enjoyed doing. I figured I could give it a shot, and the more I did it, the more I fell in love with it."  She started singing to karaoke tapes at local fairs, and eventually put together a band and played at local hangouts. Now, a four-year Nashville resident with countless shows and sessions under her belt, Moore is taking her career to the next level.  A co-writer on all of her songs, Moore draws on her 22 years of life for inspiration.  "If I'm hurting because something bad happens, I always turn to music."  And, she's been able to work with some of the best. Co-writers with whom she's written include Steve Dean ("Watchin' You, " "Southern Star"), Sandy Ramos ("Let 'er Rip"), Kris Bergness ("All Of That Love From Here"), Neil Coty ("Playboys of the Southwestern World"), Brian White, John Schweers ("I Left Something Turned on at Home") and many others. Moore describes her signature sound as a hybrid of country, Americana, and southern rock.  "CCR meets Tom Petty meets Trisha Yearwood." Currently recording an EP, Moore also plays more than 60 shows a year, touring the southeast with her band of more than four years.  She's headlined for some of the best, including The Marshall Tucker Band, Chris Cagle, Big and Rich, Bucky Covington, Jamie O'Neil, James Otto, Craig Morgan, John Berry, David Allen Coe, John Michael Montgomery, Rhonda Vincent and the Rage, Moore has also graced the stages of well-known venues like Tootsie's Orchid Lounge and The Stage in Nashville, as well as Wild Bill's in Atlanta. Because she pours her soul into each song, a Sammi Moore show is an unmatched experience as each performance exudes her true passion for music.  "You won't see me standing around and "acting" like most singers.  It's real and it's raw,"  Moore says of her stage show. For now, though, Sammi Moore knows she has found her calling, and she's taking all the steps to fulfill her dreams.  Her talent - her raw, natural ability to send shivers with her soulful voice - will get her there.  "If ever I have a moment of doubt," she says, "something happens to show me this is right, that this is where I am meant to be."  BACK TO THE HOME PAGE>>

ers is an unlikeliest of stories.  Born in small-town America, a natural athlete, and a self-admitted tomboy, Sammi Moore didn't always know she wanted to be a singer; it was more of a subtle recognition. "When I was little, I'd copy my grandpa and mom," recounts Moore. "I'd get my ukulele which I thought was a guitar made just my size, and I'd sing on my grandpa's hearth."  Her childhood was filled with the sounds of "quintessential" country: Hank Williams Jr. and Sr., The Judds ... and she can reel off a list of favorites that transport you to rural Heartland, like the one portrayed in the movies: "There's a Tear in my Beer," "Why Not Me?", "Hey, Good Lookin'" ... Her family is filled with singers, too.  "My mom sang for her career for a while," she says. "My grandpa sang in bars ... Grandma in church." Music was a natural part of her upbringing, a life so very "country." "We grew up on 'bout 20 acres, and we had horses, goats, chickens, some cows, and our dog, Grayce," she laughs, her long legs crossed and dotted with blue, bejeweled cowboy boots. But Whitwell, TN, located a stone's throw from the roaring metropolis of Jasper, is not exactly the place to make an artist's dreams come true. "If you're born in Whitwell, you stay there," says Moore, "and if you don't leave when you get a chance, then you're just stuck. It's a nice town, real down-home…but I feel like now is the time to get out and do something with my life."