Dia Frampton didn't know the meaning of terror until she walked on-stage to sing to the backs of the four judges on the set of "The Voice."

Convinced that none of the judges would hit the button that signaled she had earned a spot on the TV show, Frampton struggled with her composure before she started to sing.

"I didn't think anybody would turn around," Frampton said during a telephone interview. "I'm being honest. I was so scared."

Country singer Blake Shelton did hit the button and swiveled around to look at Frampton. So did Cee Lo Green, the R&B singer.

Frampton chose Shelton as her coach and stuck around for a good long time, finishing as the runner-up on the show's inaugural season last year.

With that simple turn of the chair, everything changed for Frampton.

Until "The Voice," the 24-year-old Frampton was the singer in a struggling indie rock band she formed in 2005 with her sister, Mia.

Called Meg & Dia, the Utah-based band had been signed to Warner Bros. Records, but it was cut loose in 2010.

"Before we did 'The Voice,' we almost dropped out because we didn't have enough money," she said. "We weren't selling merch; we weren't selling enough tickets.

"I was working at Crumbs cupcakes, serving coffee. Meg was working at Kay Jewelers, selling engagement rings. Success to me in music is being able to not have a day job and being able to go on tour."

By those standards, she is a success.

Frampton, who released a solo album of all-original songs called "Red" late last year, will performing tomorrow night at the Sovereign Center in Reading as one of the opening acts for Shelton, her "Voice" coach.

And her sister will be right there by her side, playing guitar and singing backup vocals. Though the bill says Dia Frampton, she's touring with the same bandmates she had before her success on "The Voice."

But instead of playing for a few dozen fans in some tiny club, they'll be performing songs from her album, along with some covers (Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Bad Moon Rising" and Tom Petty's "American Girl") for thousands of country music fans.

"I come from the indie rock world," she said, "where a guy in jeans and a T-shirt throws back a whiskey shot and just goes up there and rocks your face off. I still love bands like that. I love bands that don't need a million dollars of production to put on an amazing show."

At the same time, she's grown to admire the production values someone like Shelton, whom Frampton admires as an "amazing" singer and performer, brings to his shows to make sure his fans get their money's worth.

The Frampton sisters and their three bandmates have traded in their jeans and T-shirts for matching black-and-gold outfits.

"The first day we went on was really strange to me," Dia Frampton said, "because I felt we were getting professional or something. We were going out there in our matching outfits and I thought, 'Well, we're stepping it up. We're actually looking like a band.' "

Blake Shelton 
with Dia Frampton and 
Justin Moore 
Friday, 7:30 p.m. 
Sovereign Center, Reading 
Tickets $35-$65 
www.sovereigncenter.com

jferguson@Lnpnews.com