Hannah Montana and a dream are what got a 16-year-old Maple Valley girl started in her career.

Kassidy Lynne is an up and coming country music artist from the Maple Valley area.

She said growing up, she always knew she wanted to do something with singing or acting. She loved Hannah Montana, a singer played by Miley Cyrus starting in 2006, and wanted to be just like her.

“I always watched the show and always told my mom I wanted to be Hannah Montana. I feel like that’s the generic thing every kid wants to be, but I (also) feel like I’m the one person who went for it,” Lynne said.

One day when Lynne was 12 years old, she was in the car with her mom listening to the radio when the radio host said “Do you want to be the next Hannah Montana?”

Lynne immediately grabbed her mom’s phone and dialed the number to reach the station when her mom said “What are you doing?” and hung up the phone, Lynne said.

That’s when the impossible happened. They called back, so naturally they answered and that’s when her life changed.

Later that same week, Lynne and her mom flew out to Orlando, Florida to audition for a talent agency called “Premiere,” which is an agency that has been helping children of all ages fulfill their performing dreams.

At her audition she had to act, sing and model. The judges would then determine if they would help to sign her to one of the many companies Premiere works with.

Lynne said she got multiple callbacks for singing, dancing and modeling, but found that she only liked singing.

“I realized I didn’t like the acting and modeling portion of it. I really fell in love with the singing,” she said.

Country music to be more specific.

“My brother had always listened to it, so I was more familiar with it. It’s more family friendly, unlike in the pop word it’s more cutthroat I guess,” Lynne said.

Later, a talent scout from New York contacted Lynne and said her resume showed up on her desk.

This baffled Lynne because she said she only sent her resume to Premiere and no place else.

The talent scout said she had found a consultant in Florida that was willing to work with Lynne and to get her music career started.

This consultant is who really got Lynne started.

She said he hooked her up with her first “EP,” which is a mini album that has three to seven songs on it and she said he also helped her do her first music video.

“He’s helped us pretty much with all the first steps of my music career,” she said.

Lynne said she got to go back to Premiere and sing again, but not to compete.

“I went back to the Premiere last summer and actually performed in front of them and was a mentor for the kids going through the program, so that was really cool. I got to work with some awesome people,” Lynne said.

Another exciting performance Lynne said she got to do was at the Country Music Awards Festival in Nashville, Tennessee.

“It’s a crazy feeling, I don’t even know how to explain it. I don’t really get nervous and a lot of people say it’s super nerve-racking, but for me, I think it’s like the most fun when people are actually singing a long with the songs I’m singing,” she said. “I never thought I would be singing in front of people and actually enjoying it.”

Hard work and a passion for her music has paid off big time for Lynne.

Recently, Lynne said she won an HMMA (Hollywood and Music Media Award) in the country music section.

She said she was the youngest in her category and was among 90,000 other singers who auditioned for this award, with nine being chosen in her category.

“I was not expecting to win but I did and it was the craziest feeling ever because I had never won an award for music before,”Lynne said. “I never thought I would be where I am now.”

One of Lynne’s favorite aspects of having a music career is being able to use a recording studio, she said.

Lynne said she has to juggle her time between recording in Nashville, which is where Trainwreck Studios is. This is the studio that she signed a contract to.

“Recording studios are so much fun, the people I work with are all super cool and (make) you feel like you’re in a safe environment,” she said. “It’s crazy to see the song come to life in ways you never thought it could.”

Lynne and her family have to travel so much between here and Nashville that they just recently rented an apartment there so she would have a place to stay when she goes there to record or write songs with her studio colleagues.

With all the traveling back and forth, Lynne has had to learn how to juggle school on top of her career.

“It’s definitely hard, I’ve learned recently, that it’s really hard to catch up and I’m always trying to stay on top of things and talk with my teachers,” she said.

So far, Lynne has released one single called Carolina Waters. She even got to make a music video for it.

When Lynne was shopping at a grocery store with her writing coach she said she got some inspirations for this song.

“I saw water and then I saw the word Carolina and thought that could be something cool,” she said.

Lynne’s next single is Baby Just Cruise, she said.

“I really wanted to write a song about my truck because I had just gotten a truck, so I wanted to write about my truck and a guy. Basically a dream date,” Lynne said.

Lynne said her favorite part about singing is getting her music out there for everyone to hear.

“Being an inspiration to other people, showing people you can do whatever you put your heart to and I think that’s insane because I’ve always wanted to be a mentor and to help people,” Lynne said. “I think the coolest and most fun thing about this is that the people I meet they always tell me that my music inspires them.”