Raised on a grape farm in Fredonia, New York, Collins fell in love with music from an early age. She learned about the classical world from her mother, a pianist and organist, and the gospel world from church, where she sang in the choir, but it was the radio that first introduced her to the magic of pop and country, and she spent her formative teenage enamored with the stories and melodies that lit up the dial. After high school, Collins headed to Boston to study music in college, but with just one semester left, she dropped out and moved to Texas to take a job as contemporary vocal director at the largest Lutheran church in the country. As much as she loved the work, Collins quickly came to realize that it wasn’t what she was meant to do with her life, and so, six months later, she packed her bags once again, this time for Nashville.
“I spent the next five years waiting tables to support my songwriting habit,” Collins laughs. “Then in 2011, demos of some songs I’d written landed in the hands of Curb Records, and they reached out to sign me as both a writer and an artist. It took years, but suddenly my world changed overnight.”
