Rae Solomon has planned to move to Nashville, Tenn., since she was 10 years old.

Solomon, who has lived in Covington for several years, is making good on that plan Jan. 27 when the former rodeo queen of Enumclaw is driving a loaded U-Haul with her husband to the heart of the country music recording industry.

At the tender age of 7, Solomon wrote her first song, and she knew then she wanted to be on country radio. To make that aspiration happen she needs to be in Nashville.

“I wanted to make sure I was ready for it and prepared for it,” Solomon said. “It feels like a really good time. We had a really great year last year. We opened for Blake Shelton and played Watershed at the Gorge.”

She released her first album in 2010. Her single off that album, “Country-Fied Chick,” got local country radio airplay. In July 2012 Solomon followed that up with her self-titled extended play, which she spent the rest of the year touring and promoting.

Since she started touring with her band a few years ago, Solomon said, she has generated a large following in the region and she’s ready to build on that with the move to Nashville.

Solomon and her husband, Bill Snickers, have an apartment picked out that they found online.

She said she’s looking forward to exploring the city once they arrive in early February.

“I’ve been to Nashville, but, every time I’ve been there I’ve been in a studio,” she said. “Most of my time has been spent there in a vocal booth, so it’s going to be an adventure.”

Once they arrive — Solomon said they’re shooting for Feb. 1 — she plans to get in touch with the connections she’s made in Nashville and hope those folks can help her build her network.

“For the most part, I’ll be going out at night, showing up to songwriting sessions, handing out my business card, making my way and trying to make connections,” Solomon said. “Nashville is different. You don’t play gigs like you do here. You go to songwriting sessions and you play a few songs.”

And she’s looking forward to settling in, taking a deep breath, then plunging into song writing again because she hasn’t had much time to do so since the EP came out.

“I’m excited to get there and start writing again, maybe connect with some songwriting partners … and hopefully expand on that EP,” she said. “I’m kind of a perfectionist, I like to have time to work with it. There’s no rush, so, I’d really like to take advantage of that.”

This doesn’t mean she won’t come back to Puget Sound to play to her fan base here. Solomon said there are plans to return in April and August, possibly November, with the details of the dates still to be finalized. They will be posted on her website, raesolomonmusic.com, as well as her Facebook profile.

In the meantime, a going away show is planned for Saturday, Jan. 26, at Bourbon Jack’s in Kent.

“I’m so excited,” she said. “We should have a lot of friends and family who are coming to send us off.”

Then the next day, the journey to country radio begins with a road trip to Nashville.

“My husband and I, we’re both excited, we’re young, we don’t have any kids so we’re ready for this adventure,” Solomon said. “It’s going to be a lot of work but it should be worth it.”