Post by Admin on Feb 15, 2015 23:30:59 GMT
For country singer Jamie Lynn Spears, there's no other place she'd rather be than home. Despite spending several years learning the ins and outs of songwriting in Nashville, the sister of pop star Britney Spears has settled in the Hammond area, not far from where she was raised in northern Tangipahoa Parish's rural town of Kentwood. "The only place I'd ever want my child to grow up is Louisiana," said Spears, just days after being announced as celebrity monarch of Mandeville's Krewe of Mardi Paws parade, which takes to the Mandeville lakefront on Sunday, Feb. 22.
Spears has recently seen success with her debut single, 2013's "How Could I Want More." The song -- penned by Spears and Nashville songwriter Rivers Rutherford, who has worked with artists such as Brad Paisley and Tim McGraw -- reached No. 29 on Billboard's Hot Country chart. Although Spears claims more than 100 completed songs in her catalog, she said that, for now, the focus is not so much on a follow-up release as it is on tweaking set lists and other aspects of her live performances. "2015 is really about taking the next steps," she said.
Spears began her own entertainment career after appearing alongside her older sister in the 2002 film "Crossroads," followed by being cast as title character in the Nickelodeon children's series, "Zoey 101," which aired from 2005 to 2008. She won a Nickelodeon Kid's Choice Award in 2006 and a Young Artist Award in 2007 for her work on the series. About a half hour north of Hammond, a collection of memorabilia is displayed in the Kentwood Museum, devoted to Spears' sister, Britney. There, you can see photos of the younger Spears sister as a child, standing next to her much older sibling with a name recognized across the globe. Does she ever tire of always being referred to as "Britney Spears' sister"?
"Not at all. I'm very proud. That is something I want to be attached to," she said, adding, "But it's about me getting out there and earning my space." That "earning" process has never involved a conscious plan to differentiate from her internationally famous sister, who has a radically different musical and performance style than the younger sibling. "It wouldn't be genuine if I set out just to be different," Spears said. "When I started writing, it organically lended itself to that genre," she said, adding that all types of music -- including pop and country -- were played in the home when she was growing up.