Andrews planned on dancing in her school's talent show, but her sister convinced her to sing Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You" instead.

[3] Meanwhile, after someone sent a song of her singing to producer Byron Gallimore,[1] Andrews signed with DreamWorks Records Nashville and soon began working on her first album.

Prior to its release, she began opening for Faith Hill on her Fall 1998 tour, as well as for Tim McGraw (also produced by Gallimore) for his New Year's Eve concert.

[1] Serving as its debut single was "I Will Be There for You", which Andrews had recorded in November 1998 for the Nashville soundtrack to the DreamWorks Animation film The Prince of Egypt.

In March of that year, she also performed the song on an episode of the soap opera Another World;[4] One month later, she made her debut on the Grand Ole Opry.

Andrews was also featured on the premiere episode of On the Verge, a television series on CMT which followed the careers of up-and-coming country artists.

It was used as the theme song[8] for the police drama Sue Thomas: F.B.Eye where the main character Sue Thomas (played by deaf actress Deanne Bray) was a deaf FBI officer, landing a position in an FBI Surveillance team thanks to her lip reading skills.

Andrews, who was 17 years old when Who I Am was recorded, described the album as a more mature effort than Heart Shaped World, because it focused more on the emotions that come with growing up.

[10] Serving as the album's lead-off single, "Who I Am" became, to date, Andrews' only Number One (and only Top Ten) hit on the country music charts, in addition to peaking at No.

"[10] Also included on the album was Andrews' first songwriting credit in the track "Good Friend to Me", which she co-wrote with Annie Roboff and Bekka Bramlett.

[13] In late 2004, Andrews charted a duet with Bret Michaels of the rock band Poison, entitled "All I Ever Needed" for his solo album Freedom of Sound.

Shortly afterward, Andrews began work on her fourth studio album, tentatively titled Ain't That Life.

Andrews performed a duet with pop artist Richard Marx titled "Wild Horses", which was released on his 2008 album Sundown.