BAYTOWN, Texas – A girl from Baytown is taking the country by storm on NBC's "The Voice."
Pint-sized crooner RaeLynn is being called "Little Miranda" as a nod to country music star Miranda Lambert, the wife of Blake Shelton, RaeLynn's coach on the show. So far, things have been pretty good for the flower-wearing 17-year-old.
During one of the many daily calls Callie Woodward-Hargraves gets from daughter, RaeLynn tells her about how the group of aspiring singers took a break from rehearsals to work at a Los Angeles food bank. Despite the teen's choice to take the name RaeLynn for the show, her mother still calls her Racheal, and occasionally the pet name Rae-Rae.
"The amazing thing about Racheal is she is a seventh-generation Texas girl. She was raised in church and in the south, but she is as comfortable in LA with all these entertainers as I am at church and I am a pastor. That is her personality. She is comfortable where ever she is at," said Woodward-Hargraves, who sports the same blonde hair as her daughter.
RaeLynn is the youngest of 11 children, which includes four biological siblings, three step-siblings and three cousins who were raised so close they might as well be siblings.
"RaeLynn has always wanted to do entertainment on some level," Woodward-Hargraves said.
At 16, the teen graduated from her part-private, part-home school and set off for Los Angeles to try her hand at acting. The bargain the family made was she could go for a year and that one relative would always be out there with her.
During a visit to Los Angeles, Woodward-Hargraves said she and RaeLynn went shopping in Burbank.
"Every one of us would rotate -- one would go out and stay a couple of weeks and then another family member would go, so she was never alone. When it was my turn to go down and stay with her, we went into Burbank. I noticed we were walking the street at a little place that has some shopping areas with lots of homeless people. All of them were calling her name, 'Racheal, I want a hamburger. Racheal, I want a hotdog' so she was giving them all money. I said, 'Racheal, every homeless person here knows your name' and she said laughing, 'Mom, you told me to give back.' I said, 'I didn't mean for you to become friends with every homeless person in LA,'" said Woodward-Hargraves.
It may not have been what she meant, but it is just what RaeLynn's mom would expect from her youngest.
By RaeLynn's last two weeks in LA, she had given up on acting and started writing music and singing in coffee shops.
"She didn't look at that as defeat, she looked at it as, 'I tried it this way. It is going to happen, I just have to go at it another way,'" said Woodward-Hargraves.
That other way worked. RaeLynn was spotted by a talent scout and sent to Nashville on a development deal. That is where she was working when talent scouts from "The Voice" were knocking on doors to find talent. Her management team suggested she try out, so, at 17, RaeLynn left Nashville to go back out to Los Angeles.
It's hard to imagine the little Southern belle with the big Texas drawl alone in Hollywood, but her mom said shouldn't be fooled.
"You would be crazy and not all there if you didn't worry. I have to trust I put the right things in her, but while she is very, very loving and kind, and you think, 'She is just a blonde.' Well, she is a blonde on the outside and a brunette on the inside," said Woodward-Hargraves.
Woodward-Hargraves said her daughter is naive because she is young, but she is also very savvy and has a strong independent spirit that makes her less gullible than her age might suggest.
As for her teenage daughter spending so much time with the Shelton, this mom has no worries there either.
"He is a real gentleman and he treats Racheal like a little sister. I really didn't fear any of that, not so much from knowing the coaches, but from knowing Racheal. She is not going to let anyone take advantage of her," said Woodward-Hargraves.
RaeLynn's mom said those quick clips of the stars working with the singers are not just for show.
"They are communicating back and forth on email. They are talking to them. They are running ideas through. There was lots of interaction with Racheal prior to her going and getting ready for the live shows to make sure she has the right song, the right fit. I can't speak for the other coaches, but I can speak for Racheal, and Blake and Miranda have been amazing," said Woodward-Hargraves.
Music has been a part of the family history. Woodward-Hargraves sings gospel as part of her Christian mission work. RaeLynn's cousins formed the Grammy nominated-Christian band, Leland, where her brother played bass before joining military Special Forces.
Up until the acting plan fell through, Wooward-Hargraves said RaeLynn had shown little interest in the music family genes. Now she is heading for the big time and as one might expect, her mom is right there with some good Texas-style advice.
"I have tried to tell Racheal not to get wrapped up in the hype, either too good or too bad, because one day they can be saying Hail Mary and Hallelujah and praise Jesus, and the next minute they can have you on a cross, " said Woodward-Hargraves.
So far, it has been a whole lot of hallelujahs and RaeLynn's mom hopes it stays that way when viewers start voting on the live shows.
"Houston, you better vote for our girl," said Woodward-Hargraves.
There are five ways to vote for RaeLynn, and if viewers use all five she actually gets extra points.
Here are the five ways to vote:
Fans can vote 10 times on each method.