Jamie Lynn Spears will be hitting the stage Saturday at Live @ Veishea as an up-and-coming country singer.

People may have expected Spears to follow her sister’s path to pop stardom, but she is making her own way in country music.

“I think people forget that I grew up in Louisiana and that my father is as southern as they come,” Jamie Lynn said in an interview with Billboard. “Country music was a big part of me and my dad’s relationship and still is. I understand where people would assume I’d [be a] pop [act]. I mean, my sister is a pop icon, so I completely get where people would’ve expected that.”

Taking five years off to raise her daughter, Maddie, has not put out her creative flame and love for performance. Spears does not have an album out yet, but her single “How Could I Want More” has already reached critical acclaim in the country music sphere.

The country ballad, co-written by Spears and Nashville, Tenn., songwriter Rivers Rutherford, was named Taste of Country Critic’s Pick. It debuted at No. 29 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs and No. 9 on the Country Digital Songs chart. “How Could I Want More” is also making waves overseas, making the No. 27 spot on the UK Indie Songs and No. 1 on Turkey’s Number One Top 20.

Kevin Rutherford of Billboard said Spears’ performance of “How Could I Want More” is “sweet and innocent, yet powerful.”

Spears reveals that her single comes from a very personal place.

“Relationships go through ups and downs,” Spears said to Taste of Country. “This was a point where I’d just broken up with [my fiancé], and this song came right from such a vulnerable place that I was in. Every time I sing it just brings me right back there. And to look at where we are now … So every time I go to sing it, all those emotions just come running back up and I just end up crying.”

“Keeping it honest is something that will always fall on me,” Spears says on her website. “I need to make choices I believe in, so I don’t lose that relationship with my fans – they are the ones I want to stay connected to through my music.”

At the age of 22-years-old, Spears is receiving experience beyond her years. Along with Rivers Rutherford, Jaimie Lynn has also been working with other Nashville songwriters such as Liz Rose, Luke Laird, Chris Tompkins and Lisa Carver.

Catch Jamie Lynn Spears preform Live @ Veishea on April 12.