To say that the past few months have been eventful for Erin McCarley would be an understatement. The singer/songwriter released Love, Save The Empty (her debut album for Universal Republic), performed onThe Late Show with David Letterman , The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and appeared at high-profile festivals Bonnaroo and South By Southwest. In addition, the first single from Love, Save The Empty – “Pony (It’s OK)” – was the iTunes Single of the Week for the first week of 2009. So what comes to McCarley’s mind when she reflects on her whirlwind ride?

“The day of the record release was crazy,” McCarley recalls, speaking by phone from her Nashville home. “We were in New York, the record came out, we were up at Letterman rehearsing and doing soundcheck, then we went over to Joe’s Pub – this little venue in New York – because I was playing there for the record release party that night after Letterman. My parents, a bunch of friends and the whole team that had been working on the record were there. That day was probably my favorite day.”

On Saturday, June 20, McCarley will perform at City Stages. Showtime is 5 p.m. and will take place on the Legacy Credit Union Stage. McCarley has previously appeared in Birmingham as a solo artist and as a member of the musical collectives Ten Out Of Tenn and The Hotel Cafe Tour. Both tours featuring multiple headlining acts on the same bill, the Tenn Out Of Tenn and Hotel Cafe tours bring back fond memories for McCarley.

“I could do that my whole life. The Ten Out Of Tenn tour [as in 10 artists out of Tennessee] is by far the best tour I’ve ever been on. The musicality from from everyone on it is amazing. You’d think in putting 10 solo artists out on the same tour, there would have to be some drama. But there was zero – it was so weird. It’s such a good group of people. We’ve done three Ten Out Of Tenn tours – Trent and Kristen Dabbs put it together – and they just built up a new crop of ‘Ten Out Of Tenners’ and they’re going out this fall,” McCarley says.

Given her aforementioned success on iTunes and the placement of her songs in film and television – Grey’s Anatomy, The Hills, One Tree Hill and He’s Just Not That Into You to name a few – McCarley is both curious and inspired by the music industry and its ever-changing model.

“I always talk about how there’s so much music and so many short attention spans. The accessibility is great. Even when the illegal sites like Napster first came out, Dave Matthews used it as a good thing. There are so many people doing music right it’s not even funny.”

Tickets are available at www.citystages.org.