If Country Music Television ever collaborates with the Lifetime Network to make a movie-of-the-week, the story of Maggie Brown would be fitting subject matter.

The story has everything: a musical child, dysfunctional family, mental illness, broken marriages and, in the end, a triumph of the human spirit culminating in a fine country album.

"It'll make you sad, but I wouldn't be who I am without all that," Brown, now 38, explains during a phone interview. By "all that," she is referring to her unusual upbringing that began in the rural outskirts of Ferriday, La., hometown of Jerry Lee Lewis.

"Jerry Lee Lewis was the first live performer I ever saw," Brown recalls. "I was five years old, and he gave me goose bumps. I had no idea people could do that. He was such a flamboyant performer."

After seeing "The Killer" in concert, Brown taught herself to play piano. A few years later, she easily picked up guitar.Brown's mother recognized her musical gifts at an early age. "I was a shy little kid, and music was the only thing I was interested in other than reading," Brown says. "She'd sing and I'd play along on the piano with my right hand while playing a toy trumpet with my left hand."

Under normal circumstances, a mother would have nurtured this gift into something healthy - a source of pride and esteem for a young girl.

Unfortunately, things weren't normal in the home.

"She was a Stage Mom, absolutely," Brown explains. "Mom had a problem with depression. The thing that brought her out of the darkest part of it was the idea that I was supposed to play music and become successful. It was a purpose for her. It made her happy and got her mind off being depressed. All I wanted was for her to not be depressed."

As a young teenager, Brown began writing original music. "I was writing songs - I don't remember any of them now - but once Mama got wind of that, she'd make me come out and sing when people came to visit. So, I became really careful about what I told her I could do."

Amid her mother's clinical depression and attempts at suicide, Brown's parents divorced, and money became a major problem for the family. Brown's ability to play music served as an outlet for their collective economic survival. At age 15, she was legally emancipated, allowing her the ability to play music in taverns for money.

"Mom only made a hundred dollars per week, so money was always an issue," she remembers. "The little I could make playing at bars on weekends really made a difference."

When Brown turned 17, her mother saw a sign - seemingly sent from above. "One day, there was a dark cloud in the sky shaped like an arrow pointing west," Brown says. "Mom thought it was a sign that we were supposed to go west. She started thinking that I'm supposed to go to California to pursue music."Brown adds, "She was a very superstitious woman."

Brown's mother sold the family's home and belongings to purchase a used tour bus. With a guitarist and bass player in tow, Brown and her mother drove west in search of fame and fortune in the world of country music.They made it as far as Salado, Texas before settling the bus into an open slot at a local trailer park. "Whenever we had a gig, we'd pack up everything we owned, tie it to the bus and hit the road," Brown recalls. "At first, we just played for nothing - food and drinks - just so people would know we were out there."As venues and promoters began to take note of her talent and superior stage presence, Brown was afforded an opportunity to open for larger acts passing through Central Texas including The Judds, Ronnie Milsap, and her original inspiration, Jerry Lee Lewis.

"I wanted to meet Jerry Lee Louis because he's from my hometown," Brown remembers. "They told him that there was a 19-year-old-girl from Ferriday who wanted to meet him. I was standing right there, and he said, 'Why in the hell would I want to meet anybody from Ferriday, La?' He finally agreed to meet me. He shook my hand, but he was totally not into it."

Despite relentless touring throughout Texas, Brown failed to be discovered by the music industry as her mother had hoped. Part of the problem was that Brown's mother lacked the business acumen to take full advantage of her daughter's gifts.

"She had all the heart she needed, but just none of the knowledge to get it done," Brown explains. "She was a hustler as far as getting me bookings, but she didn't know how to take it to another level."

After four years of regional touring with no commercial success, Texas had run its course, "Mama said the next step was Nashville," Brown recalls.And so, in 1988, Brown and her mother moved to Nashville. Famed producer and songwriter Jerry Crutchfield had agreed to assist Brown in honing some of the rough edges off her songs. This was an opportunity too good for Brown to pass up as Crutchfield had similarly mentored one of Brown's musical heroes, Tanya Tucker.

They were in Nashville for two weeks when tragedy struck. Mom became seriously ill with meningitis, and the descent was rapid. She was in a hospital, in a coma, and dead six days later.Alone in a strange city, Brown quickly knew she was out of her depth without the guidance of her mother. "I had never done anything without her. It felt like a rug had been pulled out from under me," she remembers.

With no money or motherly direction, Brown returned to Louisiana and set music aside for six years. "Sometimes I think I was punishing her by stopping the music because she left me," Brown says. "She didn't give me the tools to be a grown up, but she didn't stick around either."

During this self-imposed musical hiatus, Brown worked to establish a sense of normalcy in a life that had never been normal before. She went to college, got married, had two babies, and left music as a distant memory in her bizarre past.

It wasn't until 1994 that the musical bug bit Brown once again. She broke the news to her not-so-pleased husband that she wanted to start playing gigs.

This change in the way Brown spent her weekend evenings was a major factor in the dissolution of their marriage. "He was a very conservative person, and he didn't like all the attention that my music generated," Brown explains.

And the more that Brown played, the more she wanted to write songs again. Her youth and adolescence spent on the road provided her with no shortage of material to draw upon.

Much of this material found its way onto Brown's long-overdue debut disc released earlier this year. The self-titled album is a fusion of country, blues, rock, and folk that recalls the sounds of Bonnie Raitt, Lucinda Williams and Toni Price.

In describing her diversity of styles, Brown says, "It's a southern-delta-swamp- country mix. It's like a potluck. I really don't know how to describe it. I've written very traditional country songs, and I've written rock songs. I like all of the different kinds of music, but if I had to pick just one, that'd be tough."

She recorded the album just outside Nashville at a studio known as The Beanstalk. The recording facility is owned by Wayne Kirkpatrick, who wrote hits for Eric Clapton, Garth Brooks, Amy Grant and Bonnie Raitt. A Kirkpatrick-penned original number, "Wasted" also made its way onto Brown's disc.

The CD's opening track "Forty Dollars" begins with the lyrics, "Forty dollars worth of Lyle Lovett / Twenty dollars worth of gas / Might not get her back to Texas / But she might outrun the past."

These lyrics come directly from an episode in Brown's life. "I was leaving town to go to Houston after my divorce," she remembers. "I stopped at the record store to pick up two Lyle Lovett CDs for the drive, and the price came to exactly $40. I filled up the tank with gas, and the price came to exactly $20. I chuckled about it and thought that with $40 of Lyle Lovett and $20 of gas, you could go just about anywhere."

The body of water in the song "Black River Blues" serves as a metaphor for the illness that swallowed the psyche of Brown's mother. "I battled my own kind of depression that came from feeling guilty over quitting music and not being able to stick to my decision either way," Brown says. "To me that song is about depression. I was just so happy to be on the other side of it without letting it get to me the way it got to my mom."

Brown currently lives in Natchez, Miss. with her two children and her second husband, a former high school sweetheart named Steve Oliveaux. In high school when Brown's mother was piecing a band together, they recruited young Steve to be the drummer. "Mom bought a drum set, and I showed him the different beats," Brown remembers. "He played with us off and on when he wasn't grounded."

Because of Brown's commitment to her husband and children, she has chosen to limit her touring to a region within a safe distance from home. "With the kids, that seems like a logical thing to do. I'd like to build up a regional following that I can stay on top of and make it last," she says.

The local recognition has been good to Brown thus far - including a recent high-profile opening slot for Gretchen Wilson in Baton Rouge. The album's first single, "Used Cars" is being played with increasing regularity on satellite radio and forward-thinking Americana radio stations who can handle Brown's amalgam of styles.Despite the acclaim thus far, there's little worry of Brown losing sight of the things that really matter.After being raised in what some might see as an unhealthy environment for fostering mental well-being, Brown appears steadfastly dedicated to giving her son and daughter a normal upbringing. Her love for the children shines brightly on the songs "Jacob's Eyes" and "Hush" from her album.

Her children also serve the important function of keeping Brown's feet firmly planted on the ground when dreams of stardom begin to overtake her."With my family, it's a different kind of thing," Brown explains. "It's like Tim McGraw said, 'When you get home, they don't care who you are - they just want their Cheerios.'"