Mickey Guyton is a trailblazing country artist, and she can remember the exact moment she knew she wanted to pursue her dreams as a singer. She was 8 years old when another hitmaker in the genre inspired her.

Guyton, who grew up singing in church, traveled with other members of her church from Arlington to Waco to watch the Texas Rangers play. That’s when Guyton got to hear another country artist sing. She recalled in a statement previously shared by her record label: “I was 8 years old, and my church, I grew up singing in the church, and my church drove to Arlington [Texas] from Waco to go see a Texas Rangers baseball game. We were all the way up in the nosebleed section, and the announcer says, ‘Please rise as 10-year-old LeAnn Rimes sings the National Anthem,’ and that was before ‘Blue’ came out. I was already stuck on her, and then when ‘Blue’ came out, I was just like done.”

Inspired by Rimes’ rendition of the National Anthem, Guyton went on to perform her own country music, and perform the National Anthem herself. She took the field at Super Bowl LVI in 2022 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. The Remember Her Name powerhouse is one of a growing list of country artists to perform the National Anthem at the Super Bowl, along with Reba McEntire, Chris Stapleton, Faith Hill, Carrie Underwood and more.

Rimes isn’t the only female country artist Guyton has looked up to over the years. Guyton reflected on pursuing her career: “It wasn’t like something where I was like, ‘Dad, I want to be a professional singer.’ It wasn’t until I was older when I finally admitted it. When you say something like that, it’s pretty crazy. What are we normally supposed to be? We’re supposed to be a teacher, a doctor, a lawyer, go to school and for me to even say that was just kind of crazy. So, I took an interest in singing. I started doing solos in the church choir or the school had a talent show. I’d bring my boom box, and I’d sing ‘I Will Always Love You.’ I was just mesmerized by big-voiced women, so from LeAnn, I started listening to Dolly (Parton) and Patsy Cline and Patty Loveless” — whom she honored with a cover of 90s country anthem “Blame It on Your Heart” during the star-studded, 8th annual All For The Hall benefit concert in Nashville, Tennessee — “and Reba McEntire and Faith Hill and Martina McBride, all those people.”