The Breeze - TIMES PUBLICATION

Christie Huff's enthusiasm is infectious.

The country singer and 2013 Mountain View High School graduate has been in Los Angeles for a little more that a year, but she's already had some amazing opportunities.

She signed with Rita Coolidge's management team, and subsequently played gigs at the notorious Viper Room and Hard Rock Cafe.

Now she's getting a band together to take her act one step further.

"I'm going to continue to do shows around L.A. and build up an audience, said the ambitious Huff. "I'm going to go out to Nashville in March or April and do a showcase for the labels while I'm out there."

Huff isn't quite sure where her talents come from, although her grandfather played the trumpet in a band. Her mom is a physician who recently moved temporarily to Africa to help patients via a program affiliated with Johns Hopkins University. One of her sisters is in the Peace Corps.

"I'm completely different than everybody else in my family," she said with a laugh. "My sister is a nurse. Two of my other sisters went to school for public health. We're going to Africa for Christmas.

"I'm a musician. I'm completely different."

Nevertheless, she and her sisters loved music growing up. They would gather and sing songs from musical theater.

"I just continued singing in talent shows and the school choir," Huff said. "Then I began writing my own songs. It was always a passion. It's something I've always enjoyed doing. I'm lucky enough to have the support to go and give it a try."

She finds inspiration everywhere. "Soldier Song," on her first album, was written about her friend whose husband was deployed to Afghanistan.

"I saw pictures of my friend saying goodbye to her husband on Facebook and Instagram," she said. "It triggered something in my heart. I sat down with my guitar and wrote 'Soldier Song.' I started with a chorus and created the song."

Huff calls herself a "visual writer." For the track "Roll The Dice," she pictured James Bond in a Casino.

"I wrote a song about the picture in my head," she said.

Huff is convinced that she's going to succeed. After all, with the drive she has, it's hard to deny that.

"I'm really happy with everything I've done so far," she said. "I'm excited to keep on working hard and achieving more and going to the next level.

"It's been a ride. You just have to enjoy the ride. I have to sit back and realize what I have done."