Country's Heidi Newfield: Life After Trick Pony
Solo CD Earns Singer Country Radio Hit, New Fans
Nov 5, 2008
For five years Heidi Newfield was the vocal identity of Trick Pony, driving the act to the top of the country-music charts and loving it all. Until, that is, she needed change.
Regarding her 2006 decision to leave the the platinum-selling trio she'd created with bassist Ira Dean and lead-guitarist Keith Burns, "I love the road, but when I stopped wanting to pack my bag and get on the bus, that was a telltale sign it was time for a change," the California-born singer-songwriter observed.
At the time, the energetic lead singer/rhythm guitarist's music career was secure. The raucous, honky-tonkin’ Trick Pony, with hits such as Pour Me, the Grammy-nominated On A Night Like This and Just What I Do, boasted legions of country fans and owned Country Music Association and Academy of Country Music trophies, among other honors.
"That was still me,” she said of the music she made in Trick Pony. “But I felt that I had been painted into a corner, and I wanted to be able to branch out. I wanted to depart from that simply because I felt that I could do more."
Solo Artist's CD Goes for Country Music Lyrics with Depth
These days, the 38-year-old country artist, with the release of What Am I Waiting For, her 10-song, solo debut for Asylum/Curb, has completed a much-desired creative evolution. The CD’s first single, a top-10 song titled Johnny & June, is an ode to one of country music’s favorite couples and a cut that’s been called the disc’s crown jewel. The harmonica-playing Newfield co-penned the number, whose lyrics reveal a new depth rarely glimpsed by fans of Trick Pony--a trio best known for its trademark hard-partying musical fare.
"There are parts of this record that are not just about a man and a woman for me," Newfield has said of her solo CD, which debuted at No. 2 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart and was tagged as a critic’s choice by both People magazine and the New York Times.
The record’s music, she continued, encompasses “my experiences all the way around, like leaving the group, and my feelings about that, the pain and the hurt, or the joy of being independent and standing on my own two feet. Everybody who listens to this record can take these songs, and place them in their lives, and relate to them."
Music Legends Johnny Cash and June Carter Inspire Country Hit
As for her tribute to Johnny Cash and June Carter, "From the moment that we started in on it, we all three just sort of looked at each other and went, ‘OK, wait a minute—this is really a special song,'" she recalled, referring to co-writers Stephony Smith and Deanna Bryant.
"I still listen to Johnny & June right now, after all the writing it and going through it and living with it,” she added, “and I still get chills up my spine."
Newfield’s second single from What Am I Waiting For, a tune dubbed Cry Cry (’Til The Sun Shines), was delivered to country radio Nov. 3, 2008. Already the sophomore cut—written by country songwriters Hillary Lindsey, Aimee Mayo, Chris Lindsey, and Marv Green—has earned a thumbs-up from respected country-music critic and historian Robert K. Oermann, who described the number as having “a feel-good lyric that’s just right for our troubled times.”
With veteran Tony Brown at the producing helm, Newfield is confident her inaugural solo outing will provide listeners with a well-rounded and diverse country-music offering that pleases her stable of Trick Pony fans while attracting new listeners, too.
Next Stop: CMA Awards and Nashville's Concert Stage
Furthermore, as one of only four solo female country artists to land a top-10 single in 2008—an elite pool that also includes Carrie Underwood, Miranda Lambert and Taylor Swift—Newfield, seemingly, is on the right track, both creatively and commercially. She’s also set to serve as a presenter at the 42nd annual Country Music Association Awards on Nov. 12 and a featured performer during the 2008 Chevy CMA Awards Kickoff Concert on Nov. 11 in downtown Nashville.
As for her next goal, “I hope that people will open up their hearts and minds to me and this music because it has soul— my soul,” Newfield offered. “For that, I have high hopes, and always will."
Sources
Heidi Newfield Biography, n.d., Chris True. Accessed Nov. 4, 2008, at http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:fbfpxqykld0e~T1
Heidi Newfield Follows-Up Her Top 10 Single “Johnny and June” with “Cry Cry (’Til The Sun Shines),” Nov. 3, 2008, press release. Courtesy of Liz Jungers. Accessed Nov. 4, 2008, from wortmanworks.com.
Heidi Newfield, MySpace page. Accessed Nov. 4, 2008, at http://www.myspace.com/heidinewfield
Heidi Newfield Hits the Studio, June 25, 2007, Great American Country. Accessed Nov. 4, 2008, at http://www.gactv.com/gac/nw_headlines/article/0,,GAC_26063_5601518,00.html
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