Terri Clark is the Nashville Cinderella who went to the ball in cowgirl boots instead of glass slippers. "I honestly do feel like I'm in some kind of a fairytale," says the gold-selling sensation who galloped to fame in Wranglers, a t-shirt and a Stetson. "I feel like I'm living a dream. Everything I've ever dreamed about, ever since I was a little girl in Medicine Hat, Alberta, has come true this year."

Terri Clark, her debut album, has gone gold and the first single, "Better Things To Do," became a Top 3 country smash. Last summer she was crowned Female Star of Tomorrow at the fan-voted TNN/Music City News Country Awards. The Country Music Association nominated her for its prestigious Horizon Award. Billboard magazine named her the top new female country artist of 1995. The Canadian Country Music Association honored her with three awards - Album of the Year, Song of the YEar and it's Vista award for the rising star of 1996.

Now she throws her speeding career into oeverdrive with the release of her second album, 'Just the Same'. Despite its title, Just The Same is anything but. Compared to her star-making debut, this collection is a revelation. Clark is singing with astounding conviction, attacking rockers with far more confidence than she displayed before, interpreting lyrics with trememndous subtilety and investing ballads with an array of honky-tonk moans, cries and slurs that confirm her status as one of the few genuinely "country" female vocalists recording today. In short, the lady has a mini-masterpiece on her hands.

From the roaring energy of "Emotional Girl" to the tremblinig emotion of "Keeper of the Flame," this is an album by a country stylist in full command of her gifts. The bent-note phrasing of the shuffle, "Neon Flame," her delightful drawl on "Twang Thang" the heart-in-the-throat soaring in "Just the Same" and the wailling treatment she gives "Hold your Horses" are the hallmarks of a singer who has progressed in giant leaps during her first year of stardom.

Her revival of country-rock classic "Poor, Poor Pitiful Me" is packed with all the spunk and feisty charm she's famous for. You can almost see couples gliding and sliding across the dance floor when Terri Scampers through "You do or you Don't." She rides atop a swampy, snaky guitar groove in "Something In the Water" and pulls off the trick of marrying a "down" lyric to an uptemo melody on "Not What I Wanted to Hear." And when she pours hurt, resilience, pain and strenght as molten emotions into "Any Woman," you know you're in the presence of vocal greatness.

As before, Terri Clark struts her stuff as a first-class songwriter, too. She wrote or co-wrote all but three of the tunes on "Just the Same". The demonstrate taht she would have easily risent o 'Music Row' + highest peaks as a composer even if she had never become a performer. Few of her "young country" peers in Nashville bring such an arsenal of talent to a project.

I'm pretty excited - about this," she confesses. "I just feel like this album is so much better in every way." " I still think I've got a lot of growing to do; it's like I'm learning every day. The big lesson is, 'Be yourself. Take country music and make it your own. 'I'm not gonna get up on any soap box and preach about where country music is going, but it's scary sometimes to think that we might be losing sight of our roots, the things we all fell in love with about it in the first place. The whole thing about country music is simplicity, 'Less is more.' You don't have to get all overblown. You just have to be honest."

That's not just talk. Terri Clark lives these words. As the media has discovered during the past few months, candor, humor and forthright honesty are indicative of her personality. Her casual, plain-spoken style is marvelously refreshing in this era of pre-packaged celebrities. Her unashamed enthusiastic and downright joy about hwat's happening in her life defy every rule about acting "cool", and the fans love her for it.