local country singer pat garrett ran the contests. >> she was poised and handled the crowd quite welluldn't tie my shoes. get out of here. she got better as she went along, and the finals she got to open the charlie daniels show. >> i'm the best there's ever been! >> next up -- "star-spangled banner". >> the national anthem at a philadelphia 76ers game. >> i think that gave her a taste at what super stardom was and looking around and saying you i think this is what i want to do with my life. >> she struggled socially during my mid will school years. >> i had this click of girls i used to hang around with and all of a sudden they didn't want to hang out with me anymore and i didn't know if i was at songwriter acoustic nights or whether i was trying to do something completely different than what they were trying to do, but all of of a sudden the friends were gone. >> singing became her salvation in these painful years. she poured her heart into her music and relentlessly lobbied her mother to take her to music row. >> when i was 11 i came to nashville and just kind of knocked on doors o