DAPHNE, Ala. — Meet rising singer and song-writer Savana Lee. Her first album — “Redbird” — was released last year. After calling many places home — New Orleans; Diamondhead, Miss.; and Nashville — pursuing her music career, the artist is back on the Gulf Coast, enjoying nature and finding inspiration for her next album.

“Right now I’m back home, where I’m from. I’m loving the sunshine,” she said. Lee grew up in Robertsdale and moved to Daphne when she was 11.

Even as a child she had music in her soul. “I just was born wanting to sing,” she said.

Lee toyed with other activities, but none held her interest. “I would get into one thing at school, like sports, then go back to singing,” she said. “I like art. I’m definitely drawn to the creative side. Other stuff bored me.”

She played the clarinet in the school band and taught herself to play the harmonica, skin tambourine and other percussion instruments.

Lee sang in choirs and bands and began her journey toward a music career after high school. In pursuit of her dream she traveled on the road with her gray Himalayan Persian kitty, Cocoa.

While in Music City — Nashville — she sang at open-mic nights and learned the importance of being self sufficient.

“I realized real quick you couldn’t depend on other musicians to show up or to do good,” she said. So she taught herself to play the guitar. “To play and sing, it adds a whole ’nother dimension. People take you seriously as a song-writer,” she said.

While in Nashville, she married a virtually unemployed, self-described “artist and producer.” Many stars came to the couple’s house to record, she said, but nothing came of it. Her husband’s unemployment, along with colliding ambitions, and other personal problems, threatened her music career and doomed their marriage, she said. “It was a really hard time in my life, but I got out.”

But everything — even the bad stuff — happens for a reason, she said, because she met her producer, Anthony Crawford, through her husband. Crawford — who has worked with Nanci Griffith, Dwight Yoakam, Blackhawk and Neil Young — and Lee have recorded 13 songs, with 12 on “Redbird.” Eleven were written by Crawford, so he produced the recording at no cost, Lee said.

“I had just been through the wringer, but we managed to get the record done in three weeks … I think it surprised both of us,” she said.

Today, Lee writes songs at the Loxley home in which she was raised. She draws from her idols: The Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel and Jackson Browne. “I like The Beatles’ rhythms, their later stuff that’s out there and creative; Simon and Garfunkel have great harmonies,” she said. She also has a deep appreciation for Patsy Cline and Buck Owens. “I think I have an edge over other people my age,” she said of her time in Music City, soaking in the great legends.

The experience also called attention to the reality of showbiz. “In the writer’s rooms, people bring a guitar and a thesaurus — it takes the creativity out,” she said. “I write what I feel.” Lee is a purist, though and through; she doesn’t even listen to the radio, lest it influence her writing. “It keeps you doing your own style instead of copying somebody,” she said. “I take it one day at a time and keep writing.”

Not only does her sound stay pure, she strays from the night life and bars. “I’ve seen what it will do to you, late at night in the witchy hours,” she said. “I’m trying to take care of my body and be healthy.”

Lee often performs at The Coffee Loft in Fairhope and will perform from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Mother’s Day, tomorrow at Ginny Lane Bar & Grill at The Wharf in Orange Beach, with subsequent performances on May 18 and 25, according to her official Web site, savanalee.com.

“I’m trying to do all I can for a small-town girl with no record deal,” she said. “To get on the radio in this area is my priority.”

Lee plans to release a new album in the fall, a mix of hers and Crawford’s songs.

Her current CD is sold at Bay Sound Music on U.S. Highway 90 and at cdbaby.com/savanalee.