Julia Burton has proven herself a versatile force, conquering everything from showing cows to winning the Miss West Virginia pageant. The lovely six foot tall, dark-haired singer is now set to answer the age-old question of, ‘What A Woman Wants’ once and for all.

Singing was something Julia mastered early, “Mama would catch me on the coffee table, I would have drug all of my baby dolls out from my bedroom and I would be giving a concert to my baby dolls using a candle stick as a make shift microphone. I would sing every song that I could think of, from Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star to All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight.”

Born in Nashville, Julia moved with her mother to the small town of Petersburg, West Virginia, when she was eight years old. “My mother put me in everything I could possibly be involved in. It was almost like ‘it takes a village.’ In small towns, everybody knows everybody - everybody knows everything. It was a great experience. I wouldn’t have had it any other way. I felt like I had all the opportunities of somebody in a large city, but found the security of that small town. I did all the things you do in a small town. I hunted and fished and showed cows with 4-H. I sang in the choir and played basketball all through school. I went to the West Virginia University and I became the national spokesperson for Boys and Girls Clubs of America.”

“I grew up in the house with my mother and my grandmother. So I’ve had a lot of strong woman influences in my life. My parents divorced when I was eight years old. So I had to grow up pretty quickly. My mom sold pickles for a living. She started a company in my grandmother’s kitchen.”

Julia drew strength and courage from those strong female role models in her life, and set her sights on country music and Nashville. “My mama was here in Nashville when she was younger. She was a Hee-Haw Honey, and she had a very small role in the movie, Coal Miner’s Daughter, but it wasn’t for her. She met my dad and had me. It was for me, I guess. It’s always been in my blood. Mama said, “I’ll support every dream you have in Nashville, but you have to get a college education first.” She couldn’t afford to send me so I entered the Miss West Virginia pageant. After three years of competing, I became Miss West Virginia. I paid off all my student loans.”

Julia served as Miss West Virginia and competed in the Miss America Pageant in 2005. Once her obligations were met, she set out alone to Tennessee, “I moved to Nashville, gave up my title and graduated from college in the same month. When I came to Nashville I didn’t really know anybody. I had a lot of fears, a lot of insecurities.. It’s a very competitive industry, the music business. I just had to find out who I wanted to be and the things I wanted to say as a country artist, and just learn what it’s all about. I worked with a vocal coach. I had country in my voice, but I had been classically trained, so I had to retrain myself. It’s been an exciting, frustrating ride ever since, but we’re here.”

“I walked into Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge in downtown Nashville one Tuesday afternoon and said, ‘I want to play here, I want to sing here, who do I need to talk to?’ I got up onstage and I sang three songs and he said, ‘Be here next Saturday.’ Ultimately, I ended out with my own gig in the backroom at Tootsie’s, four hours, three nights a week. I did that for nine months. It was the best learning experience since I’ve been in Nashville. I learned who I was as an artist, my niche and the types of songs I wanted to sing. Playing there, I met so many great people and built so many relationships. That’s how I met up with Radio Promotion Team and the former vice-president of Warner Brothers.”

Julia’s debut album with producer Biff Watson is scheduled for release this month on Emerald River Records. Her first single ‘What A Woman Wants’ was released in January of 2009 and her video can be viewed at CMT.com. “The album is going to be a lot of fun, a lot of high energy, up-tempo songs. I do a lot of my own writing. On this first album, there’s not going to be a whole lot of stuff that I’ve written. Nashville songwriters are just amazing. I’ve listened to hundreds and hundreds of songs and found a lot of things that I could relate to that I thought that other people could relate to. More stuff that I’ve written will be on my sophomore album.”

“Music is about emotion, whether happy or sad. Music has always been an outlet for me and has really brought me through a lot of situations in my life. When I’m choosing songs, I’ll pull from my experiences. My main goal is that music touches the heart, that’s really what music is all about. I feel like the message in the songs that I write and the songs that I choose are very uplifting and give a message of hope and encouragement."

“It’s been an amazing journey so far,” Julia says of her career that will surely continue to blossom in the years to come. Softly and with a smile in her voice, Julia adds, “I miss my mama, though.”