Kellie Pickler Parts Ways With Sony Music Nashville

Kellie Pickler has parted ways with Sony Music Nashville. The songstress signed to the record company's BNA Records imprint in 2006, the same year she finished in sixth place in the fifth season of "American Idol."

"Kellie's contract with Sony came to an end and they mutually decided not to renew," her manager, Larry Fitzgerald, confirms to ABC News Radio.

The North Carolina native's last album with the company, 100 Proof, was an old-school country album that drew inspiration from some of her musical idols, including Tammy Wynette and Loretta Lynn. Kellie says she knew the project -- which was released earlier this year -- was a gamble for everyone involved, but she was grateful for the opportunity.

"It's a big risk for a record company to take a leap like they did with me," she told The Boot earlier this year. "Fortunately, I'm in a great place, I love Sony Records they've been so good to me, and they jumped with me and let me make a traditional sounding country record. And in my opinion there's room for all of it, there's room for the pop country, and the classic country, and the traditional sound. So hopefully there's some room left for me in there."

The North Carolina native, who turns 26 today (June 28), certainly isn't having a pity party for herself. She spent time earlier this week at the Nashville headquarters of the Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee, where she worked alongside a group of middle-school children, loading backpacks filled with food and necessities, to help hungry children, as part of the Hunger-Free Summer program.

"There are a lot of people hurting all over the world and we should do everything we can to help everybody," the "Tough" singer tells The Boot. "But I also think we should help the people here in our country, in our backyard. You see the commercials on television of all these third-world countries that are hurting, and we should help them, too. But we've got to help the kids here as well."

Kellie will spend much of the summer on the road, including a show in Milwaukee this weekend. See her complete list of shows here.

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