Most people are lucky if they know what they want to do with their lives when they finish high school. Paige Richie knew before she started her freshman year.

"Ever since I was little, I've said this is what I want to do, this is what I want to be," the Anderson native said. "I want to be a country-music artist, and I want to pursue it all the way."

Richie withdrew from public school when she was 15 and began completing her academic requirements at home so she could rehearse and travel with her band.

The singer built a following playing a mix of country standards and contemporary covers at clubs, fairs and festivals and is preparing for the release of her first CD, tentatively titled "The August Side of September," which is the name of a ballad she played for us while in our photo studio.

"It's a very sad song. It's about a young couple -- the girl loses the guy," she said "It's a tearjerker."

Richie is a sucker for a well-told tale, and if the 18-year-old keeps working hard at her music, her own story figures to have a happy ending.

Hear Paige Richie

Paige Richie's MySpace page

See her

9 p.m. Oct. 17 at Stables, 6125 Southeastern Ave.

Influences

Martina McBride, Patsy Cline.