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Lee Ann Womack

In the year that followed the release of her first album, Womack had been the center of both fan and industry excitement. She won the American Music Award for Favorite New Country Artist, the Academy of Country Music trophy for Top New Female Vocalist and the TNN/Music City News prize for Female Star of Tomorrow. Since then she also earned nominations for the Country Music Association's Horizon award and Female Vocalist Of The Year. The Female Vocalist nomination marked the first time in a decade that a brand new artist had been so honored.

On the airplay charts, Womack's single "The Fool" netted her a No. 1, while "You've Got To Talk To Me" scored her a Top 10. The Black Dog Soundtrack included a Womack cut as well. In early 1998, the album Lee Ann Womack was certified gold and was headed towards the platinum sales level. As befits a country music standard-bearer, Womack was modest about her cascade of achievements. "Any and all of the award nominations have been wonderful," she says. "If there's any down side to all of this it would probably be that I don't know if I've had time to prepare myself for being a Female Vocalist Of The Year nominee. I don't just mean the singing part of it. These other girls [Faith Hill, Patty Loveless, Martina McBride, and Trisha Yearwood] have been performing for a while. And they have the poise and confidence that maybe I don't have yet. I'm thrilled to be in there with them, but sometimes I feel like an ugly duckling."

In addition to accepting awards, Womack has also been busy touring. By the end of 1998, she had done nearly 100 shows, working with the likes of George Strait, Randy Travis, and Alan Jackson. "One of my main thrills," she recalls, "was opening up Billboard magazine and seeing an article in which George Strait talked about me." During a prior Fan Fair, she shared the spotlight with another of her "heroes" when Dolly Parton came on stage to sing with her. "I met her right before I went on," Womack explains. "To be able to sit on her bus and just talk with her was a great thrill."

One reason Womack sings country music so well is that she relates to it so instinctively. She understands that the most memorable country songs are woven from melancholy and are meant to give voice to those who feel emotionally mangled by life. "I connect better with a sad song," confesses the Texas-born singer. "I always have--even as a little girl. I never went through any hard times as a child. My parents provided a very loving atmosphere, and I've never, even as an adult, heard them argue. My dad never left us or went out and got drunk and came home and messed things up. I never had any of that kind of heartbreak. But he still loved those songs. I would go into the radio station with him [where he was a DJ] and listen to all those heartbreakers, and I just loved them. That's why I write songs like, 'Am I The Only Thing That You've Done Wrong' and 'The Man That Made My Mama Cry'.' "I remember the first time I heard Vern Gosdin sing. It just tore me up. He could sing a happy song and still sound sad. I think I'm kind of like that too. I don't really have an explanation for it."

This passion for sadness rules in Some Things I know--from the ominous, foreboding separation narrative of 'A Little Past Little Rock" to the comparatively frisky departure chronicle of "(Now You See Me) Now You Don't." Womack turned to country classicist Bobby Braddock for "I'd Rather Have What We Had," a stunningly candid explanation of why cheating is more satisfying than fidelity. (Loretta Lynn and John Conlee each recorded the song earlier.) "The Man Who Made My Mama Cry" is a withering recitation of bitterness, hurt and disappointment. Womack examines the unexpected emotional backlash of ending a relationship in the ironic, despairing "I Keep Forgetting" and in the conciliatory "If You're Ever Down In Dallas." "Don't Tell Me" is an inconsolably mournful assertion of undying love in the face of rejection. The bluegrass-tinged "When The Wheels Are Coming Off' looks at a love affair that's grinding to a stop. "Preacher Won't Have To Lie" is a dark, dream-like vision of what life should be about. On the sunnier side of the album, "Some Things I Know" is a smooth, melodic and majestic vow of eternal devotion--all the qualities of a wedding standard--and "I'll Think Of A Reason Later" is outrageously funny. Lee Ann Womack sings with heart-piercing purity and a rare appreciation of country music's deepest wellsprings. "I go for songs that really knock me out emotionally," she muses. "I want my songs to move people."

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