A new perspective

Fans who've followed Lori McKenna since she was performing in small cafes, may have been a little nervous when the country establishment scooped her up.

In mere months, McKenna went from an under-the-radar singer-songwriter to a protege of country superduo Faith Hill and Tim McGraw. After McKenna penned Hill's hit "Stealing Kisses," she signed a record deal on McGraw's label, opened for the pair on their nationwide tour and even sat next to Hill on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" as Winfrey gushed about McKenna's talents.

But don't worry about McKenna sacrificing her emotional songwriting. With "Unglamorous," released last month, the 38-year-old makes such a seamless transition even she jokes it has been too good to be true.

"I keep telling my kids, these things normally don't happen ... it's usually not this easy," laughs McKenna.

But McKenna's path to Nashville hasn't followed the typical trajectory. First off, she's 38 years old. She's also the married mother of five children, ages 18 to 3.

And she's still a typical juggling mom, living outside of Boston and writing songs in between school dropoffs. McKenna has maintained this balance since 1998, when she put out her first album, "Paper Wings & Halo." She borrowed money from family and friends to get it released.

"Music was always one of those things that I sort of did on the side. I remember at first it was considered like, 'Oh, it's like a hobby for mom,' because it's something that would take me away from home, and I wouldn't really make money on it," says McKenna, whose husband is a plumber.

Soon, it was her second job, after being a stay-at-home mom. McKenna would play gigs across the Northeast, often making it back home before the kids got up for school the next morning.

Her stature grew, especially regarding her songwriting, which is filled with strong characters, rich storytelling and haunting melodies.

"I definitely write from the perspective of my life -- I live in the town I grew up in, I got married when I was 19, my husband and I have been married a long time and we have all these kids," she says. "... I've definitely always written from a very domestic point of view."

Friend and fellow songwriter Mary Gauthier shared McKenna's music with a publisher. The publisher "called me a few weeks later and said, 'Faith Hill wants to hear everything you've ever written,' " McKenna recalls.

Hill chose three McKenna songs for her 2005 album "Fireflies," including the title track and "Stealing Kisses," which was also on McKenna's 2004 album "Bittertown."

Producer Byron Gilmore, who along with McGraw runs Stylesonic Records in Nashville, says McKenna's songwriting took them by surprise.

"Her songwriting is just amazing," he said, "but on top of that, her vocals ... She had a fire in them that you don't get out of a lot of people."

So when it came to signing McKenna, McGraw and Gilmore wanted to make sure that fire wasn't extinguished.

"The focus was always from the very beginning on the songs and the songs coming through and not sort of, 'Let's make this commercial, or let's make this one radio friendly,' " says McKenna.

And Gilmore says from a marketing perspective, it may help that McKenna is a mom.

"Maybe she's not 21 years old," he says. "But you don't get those kinds of songs out of 21 year olds."