With the release of her new Show Dog Nashville single "Days You Live For," Mica's taking the next step on a journey that's long since taken her to the world's biggest stages. In a sense, Mica's musical endeavors have been running on parallel tracks for years, but are just now beginning to converge. "I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a little strange," Roberts says. "Being a recording artist is something I've worked toward as long as I can remember. I've devoted so much of myself to that goal. At the same time, I have the best 'day job' in the world, without question. But I've got so much more to offer."

Roberts was raised in rural Locust Grove, Oklahoma, where music was her earliest passion. Blessed with a naturally soulful singing voice, she took every musical opportunity school provided and excelled at every one. Despite college scholarship offers, Mica was determined to embark on a career in music, and her dreams couldn't wait for a degree.

Loading up a trailer, Mica embarked on what she calls her "gypsy" period, performing anywhere and everywhere that would have her. But even as she played amusement parks, clubs, fairs and aboard a cruise ship, Music City beckoned. "Getting to Nashville, and staying in Nashville, meant doing whatever it takes," Roberts recalls. "I waited tables and sang in a local club, just trying to keep moving toward my goal."

Validation came in the form of a high profile gig singing background

vocals for Faith Hill. Once again, Mica's voice led the way, and four years on the road with Hill led to work with Martina McBride, Jessica Andrews, Billy Bob Thornton and, eventually, fellow Oklahoman Toby Keith.

Joining Keith's Easy Money band in 2003 was a turning point, even

more than she imagined. Long before Keith started his Show Dog label in 2006, he recognized Roberts' potential to step up to center stage, bringing her into the spotlight for duets and solos on a regular basis during his tours. That confidence took new significance two years later when Keith signed Mica to a recording contract. Her debutsingle "Things A Mama Don't Know" introduced Mica Roberts, the artist, to country fans and country radio.

Finding a balance between writing songs and taking care of business

on tour put Mica in a position not uncommon in today's chaotic world. "I love my job," she says. "There's not a better person or boss in the world than Toby has been to me. I'm in my seventh year on the road, and it's like a family out here. But I don't get a lot of quiet time because I ride a bus with 11 boys. I'm in the dressing room. I'm doing radio promotions from 4pm on. After that I still have my night gig singing with Toby. So I'm not finished until midnight. But I'm

such an observer of life and there's so much to see when you're on the road."

Having learned so much about herself from life on the road, her experiences cannot help but to come out in her music. It is such wisdom that's at work in her latest single, which had an unlikely genesis. "Regie Hamm and I were in the studio and he was asking me how things were going," Roberts explains. "And it was just one of the days where I was kind of frustrated in general and kind of at a loss about what to do. It started as, 'Oh my gosh, how many times can I get

back up.' We started writing around that, but never planned to cut anything."

Hamm, who wrote David Cook's "Time Of My Life," brought in Lee

Thomas Miller ("You're Gonna Miss This," "In Color"). As the three writers worked through the concept of days you live through versus days you live for, the song began to take shape. "We finished the lyrics and I got a call from Regie the next day saying he thought we were really on to something," Mica says. "He wanted to go ahead and cut a demo to pass on to Toby.

"We brought in some great players and I sang the vocal at about

midnight once overdubs were finished. The next day I went out on the road with Toby, and Regie emailed me the song with a note that he thought it turned out great. I texted Toby and told him I had something for him to hear. He was like,'Wow, is this the master?' And I said, 'It can be!' So Regie ended up as producer on the track, and a week to the day that we first sat down to write,the label decided it would be a single and sent it for mastering. It's just one of those things that's meant to be. Every once in a while, God reaches down and says, 'Here you go.'"

And off she goes. Mica has solo dates planned for the fall, a European tour with Toby set for November and, most importantly, an emotionally

honest new single with which to tell her story to country fans. It's a safe bet that music lovers will appreciate the soulfulness in her voice, the truth in her writing and the uniquely country perspective of a woman who knows hard work, never gives up and finds inspiration in the world around her.