Crossover country-pop singer Rebecca Lynn Howard grew up in Salyersville, KY, and moved to Nashville in 1997, where she began a career as a songwriter. Her compositions were recorded by singers like Patty Loveless, Reba McEntire, Lila McCann, and John Michael Montgomery. When Howard began recording on her own, she drew just as much from adult contemporary pop as she did from country, much in the manner of Shania Twain's crossover bids. After a delay for some retooling, her self-titled debut album was released in the spring of 2000. The album was a minor success, but she didn't make the splash that many expected. She returned to the studio to retool her approach, cutting some of the obvious commercial elements of her debut while alternately bringing in newer ones, resulting in 2002's better-received Forgive. No Rules followed in 2008.