Newcomer Ashley Gearing is making a lasting impression with her new single, 'Five More Minutes.' The power ballad is a tune Gearing co-wrote along with Tiffany Goss and Nicole Witt three years ago, at the ripe age of 16.

"I was living at home in Massachusetts when we wrote this song," Gearing tells Taste of Country. "I signed my deal with Curb when I was 16-years-old, but I decided I wanted to stay home and finish off high school and just be a normal girl before I moved to Nashville to pursue my music career full force. I've always been the type of person who totally believes in the experience ... getting all those experiences in during high school and everything. It's really helped me with my songwriting."

"So while I was living at home in Massachusetts, I would commute back and forth to Nashville," Gearing adds. "Since I was going to school, I couldn't travel that much. So my publisher would actually send songwriters to Massachusetts to write songs with me for weekends at a time. He sent Tiffany and Nicole, who I hadn't really met many times before. We were still kinda new to each other, but we were really excited to create songs. They were going to be with me the whole weekend, staying at my house. We bonded really quickly. We started writing a few songs, and we started talking a lot about life and experiences we've all had in our lives."

"Nicole actually has two daughters and had been married for several years, so we were talking about that," Gearing continues. "We were talking about the experiences of a 16-year-old girl because I was 16 at the time. So Nicole started telling us a story about how she brought her daughter to the American Girl doll store in New York City and how her daughter was so enthralled with everything in the store. When it came time to leave she gripped on to one of the dolls and said, 'Please, Mom ... just five more minutes!' It was just amazing for Nicole because she saw in her daughters eyes that this is the most important thing in her life at that age. This was the only thing that mattered, and it's so funny how over time, that completely changes. So we started talking about that and different experiences we'd all had and the song pretty much wrote itself."

The lyrics of 'Five More Minutes' follow a young girl from her first boyfriend to her wedding day to her death bed, with each chorus pleading for just a little more time.

"But I need five more minutes / ‘Cause I ain’t ready yet / We’re out here counting stars / This night is as pretty as it gets / Please, Mama, don’t make him go / ‘Cause I need five more minutes / Five more minutes," Gearing sings in the first chorus, as the young character's mother is informing the girl it's time for her boyfriend to leave for the night.

"We were writing it on the piano and guitar in my living room," Gearing recalls. "My mom was bringing us food while we were writing it. It was definitely a memorable moment. The song has really taken on so much more meaning now that I'm away from my family traveling and living in Nashville, pursuing my dreams. I'm not always able to take them with me, so when I do have time to spend with them, I want to cherish it and make sure to get the best out of that small time I have. Everybody needs five more minutes ... especially girls, when they are getting ready [laughs]!"

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