Country singer Chely Wright has traveled a long way since growing up in Wellsville.

She left in 1989 for Nashville, a high school graduate searching for the fulfillment of her dream. Wright will return home Saturday for a concert at the Douglas County Free Fair with a No. 1 country single and a No. 4 album under her belt. She’s been busy touring the country, performing for audiences of all ages.

Even after achieving such successes, Wright said she still loves the people and the streets she grew up around. Her strong values and her down-to-earth demeanor suggest she took a piece of the Midwest with her as she became one of today’s most distinguished women in country music.

As Wright prepared to perform at home for the first time in several years, she recalled that the environment experienced while raised here is the sole reason she fell in love with country music.

“Those people were singing songs about farms and trucks and tractors, and I thought, ‘These people are writing songs about Wellsville,'” Wright said. “I had no idea there was a whole country movement out there.”

Although the singer claimed she always knew she’d be a country star, she never thought she would be acknowledged for her looks. In May she was named one of People magazine’s 50 Most Beautiful People of 2002.

“In high school  and the kids I grew up with would agree with this  I was NEVER one of the pretty girls,” Wright said. “I was popular and friendly with everyone … but boys never said, ‘Hey, will you go with me?'”

Lessons learned

Wright enjoyed growing up in Kansas, although she worked hard.

“I didn’t really have a quiet life in the Midwest. … Actually my brother and sister and I have said our adult lives are easier than our child lives,” she said. “My parents really structured a work ethic in me that made me into a person who likes to stay busy and likes to be productive.”

When Wright was older she turned to the discipline her parents instilled in her. This helped her career escalate, and even for her to begin a non-profit agency for music students. Memories of high school music programs are partially what inspired her to create the Reading, Writing and Rhythm Foundation, an organization that donates money to public school music education in small U.S. cities.

“It was a shame that when I was growing up at our school we had to always do fund-raisers,” she said. “We were forever bleeding our neighbors and parents dry to buy instruments or band uniforms.”

In 1999 Wright and her friend Chuck Walter created the foundation. It has since raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for children involved in music.

“The gratification and fulfillment I’ve gotten doing this charity is so much more than I can express,” she said.

Musical success

Charity isn’t the only thing Wright enjoys doing  she loves to sing.

“I would hate to do anything other than my hobby for a living,” Wright said.

The vocalist received her first top-10 hit in 1997 with “Let Me In,” and her “Single White Female” reached No. 1 in 1999.

“I’ve been lucky enough to not have just made one or two albums, but I’ve made five records,” Wright said.

Her newest album, “Never Love You Enough,” soared to No. 4 on the country album charts.

“This record was creatively the most difficult time I’ve had with an album,” Wright confessed. “It took a long time to make, and I cried through this one.”

She recognized that her work paid off, though.

“I guess there’s something to putting a little time into your music,” she said. “People say, ‘How do you keep your stamina and focus?’ This isn’t brain surgery. I’m not curing cancer; I’m writing songs and singing.”

Chely Wright Day

In addition to her nighttime concert, Wright will be honored Saturday in Wellsville. Seventh Street, a road the performer used to travel down when she returned to her parents’ home, will be renamed Chely Wright Way.

Wright asserted this honor was particularly appropriate.

“I knew the streets of Wellsville better than probably anybody, because I was a paper girl,” she said. “I threw the daily Journal-World.”

Wayne Linder, a Wellsville City Hall worker, said people from all over the United States will attend the afternoon ceremony, including members of Wright’s family, state officials and dozens of fans.

In addition, Linder mentioned that fans also have the opportunity to buy $50 Chely Wright street signs. The money will be donated to Reading, Writing and Rhythm of Wellsville schools.

Roger Flory, president of the Douglas County Fair Board, said members of the board are thrilled Wright agreed to perform at the fair.

“We feel it’s in our best interest to use all of local people we can,” he said. “We feel really fortunate to have gotten (Wright).”

Wright said she was looking forward to the day.

“I’m just so excited to catch up with everyone and see their faces and their new babies, meet their husbands and their wives and, oh yeah, we have a little country music show to do, too,” she said.