Seven years ago, Gillian Smith was a 16-year-old singer in Central Pennsylvania who had fallen in love with country music and was ready to perform it.

Bars around her native Mechanicsburg, near Harrisburg, refused to let her play until she was at least 18, Smith says in an exclusive interview at Musikfest.

She and her parents followed the path of another Pennsylvania native, Taylor Swift, and took their search for audiences to Nashville.

There, Smith says, she performed at open mic nights and other venues, paying dues and learning her craft from the music community there.

These years later, Smith is playing those Pennsylvania bars and even bigger venues, and Aug. 6, played one of her biggest shows yet, opening for hot country star Bailey Zimmerman in a headline show on Musikfest’s main Wind Creek Steel Stage.

“It was really important to be out in the environment” of music, Smith says in an interview in her dressing room at SteelStacks before the Musikfest concert. “I made connections with writers. I connected with my producer at a random show.

“Just talking with people. The worst they can say is ‘No.’ I made myself go out and talk to random people.”

Smith grew up in Mechanicsburg, where she still lives between seven-to-10-day stints in Nashville.

She was a student of opera, classical music and theater in high school until a music teacher told her there was “no future in it” and steered her toward popular music. She said she fell in love with country.

Her vocal style sounds like a modern version of Tammy Wynette or Crystal Gayle.

About Nashville, she says, “It was wonderful to go there. I’ve gotten to do things to make it work.”

She tried college at Salisbury University in Maryland, but her attention was on music, and “as soon as I was able to get into bars, I was literally emailing every single venue” asking to play.

In 2023, she embarked on “a whirlwind radio tour, traveling through 20 states to connect with fans and spread her music.”

She has played Hollywood Casino, Grantville, Dauphin County; American Music Theater, Lancaster, and opened for Laney Wilson, Parker McCollum, Blake Shelton, Brooks and Dunn, Carrie Underwood and Luke Bryan. And she’ll open for Jon Pardi soon.

She recently was chosen Best Female Country Artist at the Central Pennsylvania Music Hall of Fame Awards.

This year, she has played at the Barefoot Country Music Festival, Wildwood Beach, N.J., and the Carolina Country Music Festival.

She says that “every single year, I ask my mother-manager to send an email to Musikfest.” This year, she got the spot opening for Zimmerman.

“I think it’s just being annoying and persistent,” she says with a laugh.

She’s a fan of Zimmerman, and played at another festival at which he was a headliner.

“He’s killing it right now,” she says.

Smith writes her own music and has released 15 songs online. Recently, she has released a new song every three weeks. Her newest, “I’m Gonna Look Real Cool,” was due out Aug. 7.

She’s says she’s got a contract in the works that she can’t talk about.

The high point for her so far is “the fan base that I’ve been able to create.

“I get emails from people who see me play,” she says. “And some have even become friends.”

Information: https://gilliansmithmusic.com/