The 35-year-old has been playing music since she was a little girl. Her father, guitarist Wallace Pulley, played in the band of Charlie Ryan, the first man to score a hit with the rockabilly standard "Hot Rod Lincoln" in 1960. The Pulley family included nine children and they traveled from city to city to accommodate their father's tour schedule. The younguns passed the time on the road making music of their own.

Pulley's grandmother, Ollie Pauline, played in Tennessee Ernie Ford's band. So, yes, music is in her blood. But stage fright kept her from playing out until she was 24. "I was just too shy to perform in front of people," she says. Finally, Pulley found the courage to attend open mics around the area, and slowly built her confidence. It paid off. These days, she supports herself and 12-year-old daughter Jasmine on music alone.

Pulley's latest release, Songs of Southern Zen from Pen and Paper to the Electric Den, is full of frank talk about love — good and bad. On "All the Young Girls," she sings about school-dance crushes. But on "The Good Girl," we get an admission from a woman who "fell for that man and led him to my bed."

"A lot of my songs are about past relationships," she admits with a laugh. "But the people aren't in the area anymore, which is good because they would get mad."

Pulley has averaged an album every couple years since self-releasing Nowhere Fast in '98. She's not exactly prolific, but there's plenty of quality control. "After I write something I like to look back — I don't want it to be cheesy," she says. "The older I get, the more particular I am and want to make sure it's not something that has been done a million times. But sometimes that's hard.

"Also, it has to be simple and direct," she continues. "When someone gets on stage and rambles with a song that has a million words, it drives me bananas and makes me nervous."

Latest release: Songs of Southern Zen from Pen and Paper to the Electric Den

Key track: "All the Young Girls"

Next area gig: 7 p.m. Thursday, April 12, The Bunker, Ybor City

More info: rebekahpulley.com

Music Issue 2007: Chicks Rock

Tampa Bay's top 10 women musicians — plus 100 must-have CDs by women artists