Singer Caitlyn Smith's journey from behind the scenes to center stage

Caitlyn Smith became known in Nashville for writing smash hits – for other people. But that wasn't the career she'd always dreamed about. After more than a decade behind the scenes writing songs for artists like Meghan Trainor, Garth Brooks and Lady Antebellum, Smith is finally getting some of the spotlight singing her own songs.
 
"I love to sing. … I love how it feels to be able to take these pieces of my heart and just kind of put it out there for someone else to connect with," she told CBS News' Jan Crawford.
 
In small-town Minnesota, she was a little girl with a big voice and big dreams. After she won the state fair talent competition, her parents made her an offer.
 
"They were like, 'Hey, we have your college fund. Would you wanna use this to make a record?'"
 
Fifteen-year-old Smith took them up on it. And to make it, she decided she had to head south to Nashville. After years of trying to break into the music business, she finally got a deal – but to write, not sing.
 
"It kinda took off. In my first year of writing, I had a couple major cuts on platinum and triple-platinum albums," Smith said.

Still, she wanted to make her songs her own. When Nashville said no, she started a YouTube channel to help fans connect her singing with the songs they'd heard on the radio. It wasn't enough.
 
"There was a handful of nights. But I remember one in particular of just crying on my couch and wondering, like, 'Is this really gonna happen?'"

She credits her husband with helping her carry on.

"I thank God for my husband. I mean, he was standing there going, 'I understand that you feel like this, but you're crazy because you were made to do this,'" she said.  
 
Smith and her husband moved back home to Minnesota where she rediscovered her passion for performing. But just as Smith had finally decided to step back on stage, she found out she was pregnant.

"I started wasting time a lot less. I started saying no a lot more. And it's amazing when you start to say no to more things how many better yeses come along," Smith said.
 
Finally, the big yes – a record deal to record her own songs. And the critics are raving. For Smith, touring is a family road trip with a hometown band performing songs like the title track off her new album, an anthem of standing up to critics.

"I was so naive. I thought it was all gonna happen like that. And I thought, 'This is my year, 17. This is my year, 19.' ... But I would tell my 16-year-old self, 'Those dreams are exactly right.' It might not happen exactly like that, but keep dreaming and don't give up."

Now 31 years old and a new mother, Smith isn't living the stereotypical lonely life on the road. Her husband and writing partner Rollie plays guitar in the band, and their young baby is right there backstage.