COURTLAND—With little fanfare and no tour manager, the down-to-earth 18-year-old from Georgia approached the stage blockades and greeted us with, “Hey, my name’s Rachel.”

Rachel Farley, that is, one of Country Music Television’s Next Women of Country, whose debut single was a country top 40 hit.

“I don’t put a lot of thought in it,” Farley said of accolades. “I play music because it is what I love doing.”

Though she does admit that it is nice to be recognized, she got into music when she was 11 and keeps going because she thinks it is the only thing she can do well. So Farley put her head down, put in a whole lot of work, including touring with the likes of multi-platinum artist Jason Aldean and chart topper Luke Bryan, and when she looked up, her life had changed.

On Aug. 16, she got to play with chart-topping country music duo Florida Georgia Line at the Franklin-Southampton County Fair.

“It is fun,” Farley said of getting to play with them. “We’ve been friends for a while. They are a great group of guys. I’m proud of what they’ve been able to do.”

With her band setting up in the background hours before the show, she talked about the good job they do night after night. The previous night, she and the band had been in Lexington, Ky.

On Saturday she’d be back in Nashville to record a video for a new single. That would be considered a break before she would hit the road again to keep doing what she loves, playing shows.

“For me, it’s all about playing music,” Farley said. “I just keep moving forward, one show at a time.”

But while in Courtland, she was planning to have a good time.

“We set up a tent outside of the bus, and we’re grilling out,” Farley said. “That’s doing a fair right.”

As far as the songs she was most excited to play, the singer-song writer said “all of them. You never got to play them enough.”