Will 'Move On' make Clare Dunn a star?

"If this all goes over well, it's going to be awesome," says Clare Dunn, who released her first major-label single, Move On, last week. "And if it doesn't, it's going to be completely my fault, because I've had complete control over all the music."

Move On's lyric video is premiering at USA TODAY, and the Colorado-born country singer and guitarist is off to a good start with the song: In its first week out, Move On was the second most-added song at country radio, barely behind the new one from Miranda Lambert, Smokin' and Drinkin'. On SiriusXM's contemporary country channel, The Highway, it's already the 12th most-played song.

"It's already looking like a hit on The Highway," says SiriusXM's director of country programming, John Marks. "Hopefully, terrestrial radio will give this song and artist a chance. If so, more country music fans will be able to see for themselves why she deserves a prominent place in country music."

Fellow country singer Dierks Bentley weighed in on Twitter, calling Move On a "badass song and a totally unique vibe."

In a format not always friendly to female voices, Dunn stands out as a new artist. She grew up on a farm, listening to the music of the Rolling Stones, Bob Seger, Mariah Carey and Lauryn Hill. She drove a truck to pay for college. "Driving a tractor all day long, driving an 18-wheeler, is something I absolutely did growing up," she says. "I love those things."

After moving to Nashville, she sang backup on Luke Bryan's 2011 hit Country Girl (Shake It for Me) and began releasing music independently before signing with Universal Music Group Nashville last year. She had a hand in writing every song on her debut album, which could come out before year's end.

Dunn wrote and produced Move On with Jesse Frasure, who co-wrote Florida Georgia Line's recent hit Sun Daze and co-wrote and co-produced Crash and Burn, the latest single by Thomas Rhett.

Dunn calls the song a page out of her life. "Move On was just something I was going through. I was friends with his guy. I'm very shy when it comes to guys, a lot of the time. The way you'll know if I really like someone is if I get shy. I was struggling with that, and he was kind of shy, too."

Dunn, who USA TODAY pegged as one of its acts to watch in 2015, doesn't pattern her music after Carrie Underwood's big-voiced numbers or Miranda Lambert's brash Southern tales. Nor does she try to fill the country-pop hole left when Taylor Swift went pop. "I make music that I want to listen to, that moves me," she says.

Marks says Move On "doesn't sound like anyone else out there, male or female."

Dunn arrives at an interesting time for country radio, when some people are clamoring for more female voices and at least one consultant recommends making ratings rise by keeping women off playlists. Just last week, Kelsea Ballerini became the first woman in at least nine years to have a No. 1 country hit with her first single. On the one hand, the format finally may have started opening up to more female acts. On the other hand, though, the only time two women topped the country charts with their first single was in 2001 when Jamie O'Neal had There Is No Arizona and Cyndi Thomson released What I Really Meant to Say.

Dunn feels like she has paid her dues and is ready for the task at hand.

"It's been really hard, being out there playing bars for years, driving around and dragging myself home and being devastated that I played for only two people," she says. "Going through all that, you learn to appreciate those who support you."