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Sometimes a woman's southern sensibilities make her question certain things when she's a Carolina girl, born and raised (this journalist).

For example, when Lori McKenna, born and raised in Stoughton, Mass., is practically propelled into the limelight by Faith Hill, opens for Trisha Yearwood, and gets produced by Tim McGraw, it makes one wonder just how a Massachusetts woman becomes a hot commodity in country music not having ever lived below the Mason-Dixon line. Calling Maryland a southern state is even a stretch, but Massachusetts?

However, southern sensibilities, regional bias, and all kidding aside, Lori McKenna is, admittedly, pretty good at what she does.

"It's funny," McKenna explains, "I don't know if it's really country music around (Stoughton). I was considered folk and played acoustic guitar and wrote songs and it wasn't rock. The country thing basically came to be as a name because I signed with Warner Brothers."

It is a fair argument. McKenna explained that the music she writes is "sort of not country, not rock'" but "sort of Americana." And she's right when she says that many people have different perspectives on what country music is. These days the idea of country music is somewhat thwarted because of a new kind of country music played on country radio. McKenna is not a Carrie Underwood kind of country.

But arguing over which genre fits McKenna like a glove is not the most charming thing about this singer/songwriter, by far.

A stay-at-home mother of three boys at the time, McKenna began to play her work publicly about 10 years ago at open mike nights in the area.

She had been writing songs since she was 13, but it wasn't until she was about 26 that she found the confidence to let the public in on her work.

"My kids gave me the courage to step out and start doing music," McKenna explained. "I felt safe. I had a good foundation at home, and I needed to have that foundation before I was willing to stick my neck out … Once I did, the Boston community really supported me.

"I didn't have the desire to get my music out and play in front of people when I was young," she continued. "I didn't even know if I did when I started. I just wanted to try it."

McKenna has now been married to her husband for 18 years, and is now the mother of five, whose ages range from college-aged to pre-school. Once she did decide to stick her neck out, it was almost as if the world became her cushion.

"Once I started, I immediately found the right people, or they found me," McKenna explained. "I always had these important people show up and push me to the next step."

The right person definitely found McKenna when Faith Hill included three of McKenna's songs on her "Fireflies" album. McKenna had been self-producing albums since 1998 (until she signed with Warner Bros. Records and produced her last album, "Unglamorous"), but coming to work with some of the biggest names in the last 20 years of country music is a long way from an open mike night.

And for a woman who considers herself a mother as much as she does a professional musician, what does her family think of all this success? How does the village view the child they raised?

"The biggest change is that I travel more," said McKenna, whose youngest two have pretty much grown up with their mother as Lori McKenna, up and coming musician. "And as for the community, they see me in my pajamas every day driving my daughter to school. I'm at the grocery store every day. Nobody's all that interested," joked McKenna.

"I've been hanging around here too long."

Charla Duncan is a freelance contributor. Contact her at charla_duncan@yahoo.com.