Danielle Caitlin Price always wanted to be a country singer. At three, she began to sing Dolly Parton songs to her family, at 6 she learned to play the guitar, and began performing on the sidewalk in front of her home. Some kids sold lemonade, Caitlin busked. Their family had never been artsy people, both parents were professors at Boston University and Harvard, and her sister was placed in all of the gifted programs. Cait never felt like she fit in, and she often wished she would one day be told she was adopted, but she and her sister, Vivian, Irish Twins only 11 months apart, practically looked like real twins.

Expectations were high in the Samuel’s household and while Cait excelled at music, learning to play four instruments adequately before she was 15, her sister had skipped two grades and had graduated at 16. Thankfully, Vivian was a good sister, often trying to make their scholar parents see the good that Cait had done. Rarely did it work. When Caitlin was 16, she began to date the pastor’s son, a young man, two years her senior, who ran the church choir. Martin believed they had a connection through their talent and when he ran off to Nashville, she tagged along.

Being the black sheep of her genius family wasn’t easy, which is why, even though she ran away with her boyfriend, she continued to go to school, she just did it as a married woman, the two of them having found someone to marry them even though she was only 16. They got a place, Martin found a job at a grocery store and Cait waitressed on the weekends at a breakfast diner and they sang together at night, usually lying about her age to get into bars to sing. Most of the dives they sang at turned a blind eye because no one else wanted to play at them.

Late 2006 was an interesting year for Cait. After auditioning for American Idol in September. She made it to Hollywood week and was elated, but bummed over having to keep it a secret. In October Cait received a call from a hysterical Viv. She was pregnant and didn’t know what to do. Reluctantly, Cait returned home for a weekend and helped her sister explain it to their parents. Their father, a theology professor and a true believe in Our Lord was adamant about her keeping it, then putting it up for adoption, while their ancient history professor mother, who was a bit of a hippie decided that an abortion would be best for her studies. She was only 20 after all, and had so much ahead of her. The fight was immense and both girls wondered how their marriage had survived so long without any kind of similar blow up. No matter how mad they were, the one thing they agreed on was that Cait was to blame. Although she had been living due south without much contact, her ‘influence’ was the problem. Viv decided to keep the baby, it’s father, a teacher’s assistant, who had no plans on allowing a baby to hold him back, gave up all rights before she was born.

Their parents decided to a trial separation was in order, leaving Viv to deal with playing go between for the entirety of her, unwanted by the family, pregnancy. Because of this, Cait flew back and forth a lot over those few months, causing strain on her misguided marriage and wallet. In February of 2007, Cait went to LA to begin Hollywood week on American Idol. She was cut in the semi-finals with 12 other hopefuls. Lucky for her, she was thrifty enough to cash in on the trip to LA and found a few open auditions before she returned home. Right after this trip from Idol, Cait walked into her apartment and found her husband in bed with two other people. She moved out, staying at a rundown, fleabag motel for a while, contemplating returning home to Boston to help her sister.

She was packing up her meager belongings in early April, with plans on moving home to Boston when she got the call about backing vocals for Kellie Pickler as she toured with Brad Paisley. She left immediately to begin working with the band. The tour was in Maschussetts two days after the birth, June 7th 2007. Erin Danielle Price was 6 pounds 3 ounces and the light of her mother and aunt’s eye.

For three more years, Cait sang back up for Kellie Pickler as she recorded her sophomore album, and continued to tour, opening for Sugarland, Taylor Swift and Rascal Flatts. 2010, right at the end of the Fearless tour, she stayed with Kellie, providing backing vocals for her third album 100 Proof. She was gaining notoriety behind the scenes and made friends with a number of producers and engineers, finding work singing demos, writing songs and continuing with backing tracks for big names in the business.

In 2013, when Cait was getting ready to join a new tour with a new band, she got a call from home telling her that her sister had been in an accident. She rushed to Boston and was able to say goodbye before they pulled the plug, not that she was awake to understand. Much to her parent’s chagrin, Vivian’s will named Cait as Erin’s guardian. The 6 year old had just lost her mother, Cait didn’t want her to lose her home as well. She packed her things immediately, moving back to Boston and into the house her sister had lived in and taking over in the role of ‘mom’. It was strange for a woman who had never been much of an adult herself. Cait got a job at a restaurant while she and her mother discussed taking classes at BU. Lucky for her, the friends she had made in the business were nice enough to let her continue to write and demo (her own songs), but this wasn’t something that kept much food on the table.

A few years after returning to Boston, Cait graduated from the Early Childhood Education course and began working at a preschool. She’s been considering doing an art therapy course with her music, which is surprising as she had always hated school. After years of touring and the country music lifestyle, she leads a quiet life with her niece playing mom while trying to step out from the shadow of her deceased sister.