When emerging as a high school graduate, most teens choose college as their next step in life.

But 20-year-old Reid Anderson of Albany chose a different path — one that has landed him in Nashville off-and-on over the past year recording an album with his band, A Dream Too Late.

Anderson joined the band as lead singer in August 2005, a month before he was scheduled to begin his freshman year at Southern Oregon University.

That same month, the band played for Teresa Davis of Paradigm Management, who manages the Albany Christian rock band Falling Up. Davis decided to take a chance and send Dream to Nashville to work with producer Steve Wilson.

With everything happening quickly, Anderson was forced to decide whether he would go to Southern Oregon, where he was slated to play football as a walk-on, or stay and see where A Dream Too Late would take him. He chose Dream.

“If I was to just leave, I would be kicking myself,” Anderson said. “I gave up what I strived for for this opportunity.”

Last summer he spent six weeks in Nashville, Tenn., recording with the band, often working 12-hour days to lay the tracks. He has been back and forth since to work on vocals, to record a new song and to rework some of the completed tracks to further define the band’s experimental rock style.

The 11-track album, titled “Intermission to the Moon,” is slated to come out this fall under Seattle-based indie label Tooth & Nail Records.

In the meantime, Anderson and A Dream Too Late will travel with the Oregon Trail Tour, beginning April 19 in Minneapolis, Minn.

“My whole plan was to take a term off,” he said, regarding his choice to pursue music over education. “If we didn’t go anywhere, then ... I always take the pessimistic route. I definitely feel when it’s all said and done, I’ll continue my education.”

Heather Crabtree is the news clerk for the Democrat-Herald.

Reid Anderson

Age: 20.

Residence: Albany.

Occupation: Musician.

Family: Single; parents Randy and Kathi Anderson, sisters Katy and Kelsey Anderson, brothers Ryan Wines and Brennan Anderson.

Misc.: Anderson explains his pursuit of a musical career as follows: “Jesus Christ really inspired me to go after this. All my close friends and family and the support they have given me, especially in this last year. And just growing up loving music.”