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Ruthie Collins: From New York State to Tennessee

Enjoy Her Performance of "Pink Bic Lighter" on 'CMT Next Women of Country Live'

Meet Ruthie Collins: beautiful, talented and driven.

Collins grew up in a rural town in western New York near Buffalo. Her younger musical days were spent in church with her mama, playing piano, organ and singing together. Her dad swooped in with artists like James Taylor and the Beatles who inspired her and helped shaped her early childhood years.

When she went to college, a whole new world of songwriters opened up to her. People like Emmylou Harris, Patty Griffin and Ryan Adams struck a chord with her. Collins was drawn to pop and country, but also singer-songwriters, and wanted to pursue writing her own songs.

She admits that being a New York girl, a lot of people give her strange looks when they see her holding a banjo, but her upbringing was most definitely country. She grew up on a farm, where the women in her family instilled in her all things traditional, vintage and country.

They also instilled the drive to chase her dream, all the way down to Nashville -- and to CMT as one of the new class members of CMT’s Next Women of Country.

Enjoy her exclusive performance of "Pink Bic Lighter."

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