Cam is best known for putting contemporary music into country music.

Cam was born in Huntington Beach, California.
She was raised in Lafayette, California, a suburb in the San Francisco Bay Area. She also spent time in Oceanside, California, where her grandparents operated a ranch. They helped develop Cam’s appreciation for country music, listening to and performing it regularly. She pursued music throughout high school and college, singing in various choral groups. This included performing in the Contra Costa Children’s Chorus, where she learned to sing in 14 languages. She attended the University of California, Davis as an undergraduate student, studying psychology. She formed an all-female collegiate a cappella group called The Spokes and learned to play the guitar while studying abroad in the Netherlands. She developed confidence in playing the instrument on a trip to Nepal. Taking residency in a rural mountain community, she lived for several weeks with limited electricity and basic needs. She developed a friendship with Canadian musicians and started playing the guitar more consistently. In a 2010 interview, Cam stated that she grew more confident in playing once from the trip.

Cam sporadically performed music following college, but mostly pursued other interests. She worked in research labs, including one at Stanford University. Yet, she remained conflicted about the choices she made. A meeting with a fellow college professor influenced Cam’s choice to embark on a full-fledged music career. The professor said to her, “Just picture yourself at 80 years old. Looking back at your life, what would you regret not doing: music or psychology?‘”

She started off her professional music career as a song-writer. She started off writing for many big named pop artists, one of which was Miley Cyrus. She is credited for writing Maybe You’re Right off of Cyrus' Bangerz album