On the bus with Gretchen Wilson

Five years after 'Redneck Woman' hit number one, she still loves singing it.

"I think it's because that's kind of the title I wear, it's like my badge," Wilson says. "It's amazing for me when I go out there for the encore every night and I just watch them and I listen to them and they're singing it to me so loud, my own words. It's I think what every singer and songwriter dreams of."

A lot has changed since that song made her one of the most recognizable faces in country music.

"In the beginning it was such a whirlwind and everything was so crazy, I really feel like now I have a better handle on everything. I feel like I'm in more control of everything and I have a better balance between my career and being a mother," Wilson explains.

For example, over the weekend, she showed her eight-year-old daughter around her old stomping grounds.

"Today my daughter and I took my Jeep and went driving all over across the river and I showed her where I got my scar and it was just cool to be able to ride around. It brought back a lot of old memories," Wilson says obviously not forgetting where she came from.

So her success allows her to be the kind of mom she wants to be but her most proud moment doesn't have a darn thing to do with music.

"I'm more proud of getting my GED than, I don't want to sound like I don't care or anything, but I'm more proud of that than I am my Grammy. That's something I wanted to do for so long for myself and to be able to have my daughter there at my graduation and to have Charlie Daniels there to hand me my diploma, it was an incredible night for me and it's such an awesome memory, I'm more proud of that than anything," Wilson adds.

She did it after her success which is a lesson for anyone who didn't finish school.

"I think a lot of kids look at me and think well, she didn't even need school, but I really did. After all this started happening for me things got really complicated. You think you're just gonna go out there and sing and write songs and do performance, but the reality is you become a corporate person overnight," Wilson says.

So these days Gretchen Wilson is still a redneck woman only now she has her GED and someone to do her hair and make-up.