Lee Ann Womack 'There's More Where That Came From' album

...some people take voice lessons to learn how to sing, but I just sat and listened to country records, like George Jones, Dolly Parton and stuff like that.

What’s so familiar to me can be so foreign to other people, and I don’t realize that sometimes. But that’s how I learned how to sing.”

Somewhere between the blush of a new love and the bruises of a broken heart lies real life and real country music. Lee Ann Womack is a lifelong student of this reality, majoring in Jones and Wynette and graduating with honors, with the tender, yet tough spirit of teachers including Dolly Parton and Loretta Lynn.

There’s More Where That Came From – the follow-up to her 2004 Greatest Hits collection -- is for everyone who’s ever loved, lost, and learned hard-earned lessons and lived to tell about it, including the singer herself.

“These are songs that aren’t afraid to tell the truth,” says Womack. “It is definitely honest music as far as the lyrics go. They’re a slice of life – the good, bad and the ugly.”

It’s not an accident that the album’s first single, “I May Hate Myself In The Morning,” sounds simultaneously like a classic country cheatin’ song and a contemporary breath of fresh air. “This is the kind of stuff I grew up listening to,” says the daughter of an east Texas country deejay, who practically wore out her father’s vinyl records, soaking up every vocal lick and turn of a phrase like a sponge. “How true is this song?” exclaims Womack. “Even if you haven’t been in that situation, we all know somebody who has. It’s just honest.”

“You know, the sad thing is, I always felt like I was born too late,” Womack admits. “Even when I was younger, I had an old soul. I chose these kinds of songs early on in my career, but if anything, I’m more able to relate to these kind of lyrics more now than before,” says the woman whose 2000 single, “I Hope You Dance,” made her worldly known.

“You can’t be married twice, have two kids and go through all I’ve gone through in the last few years without learning a few things, you know? I think I even sound a little wiser sometimes.”

And that she certainly does on “Twenty Years And Two Husbands Ago,” a song Womack wrote with veteran country writers Dean Dillon and Dale Dodson. The song’s opening line – Looking in the bathroom mirror, putting my makeup on/Maybelline can’t hide the lines of time that’s gone – is the kind of humble honesty that any woman can relate to. “I feel like that was kind of my ‘Tammy’ song,” says Womack. “I wanted a song or two that was classic and classy female country. Tammy and Dolly would sing in those sequined dresses, almost an evening gown kind of thing. And they’d sing songs of heartbreak. You don’t see females doing that anymore, but I knew I’d have fun doing it, and that was what I wanted to do with this record – just have fun and make music that I love.”

This time around Womack worked with hit-making producer Byron Gallimore, who’s best known for working with pop-flavored artists Tim McGraw and Faith Hill. “I can’t tell you how many people have stopped me and said, ‘You’re making a record with Byron Gallimore?’” laughs Womack. “Now people are calling me saying, ‘I can’t believe Byron did this record! It’s outstanding!’”

“Byron’s very talented and quite versatile. And anyone who’s really sat and listened to the records he’s made knows he’s one of the few who are capable of going the direction an artist wants to go,” she adds. “We just had fun. I hope that’s what it sounds like when people hear the record. If they know anything about me and the kind of music I love, they will know I had a blast making it.”

Womack estimates she personally listened to over a thousand songs to find the baker’s dozen on There’s More Where That Came From. “Then you have to add on how many Frank [Liddell, Womack’s husband and publisher/producer] listened to,” she says, “and how many Missy [Gallimore, music publishing exec and Byron’s wife] heard, too.”

The songs that made the cut examine everything from the wistful regret of “The Last Time” and playful sexiness of “What I Miss About Heaven,” to the numbing moment of a diminishing relationship, as sung in “Painless.” And the record’s introspective crown jewel just might be the Don Schlitz/Brett James-penned stunner “Stubborn (Psalm 151).”

“It’s hard for me to pass up any song that has a lot of ache in it,” explains the CMA Female Vocalist and Grammy award winner. “I don’t know why that is – I’ve been like that since I was little. Frank has taught me a lot of things about songs. He doesn’t like things that are cliché or trite, and he’s pointed that out to me. That’s not to say that there aren’t some lines sometimes that can be cliché, but I do think about those things now more than I used to. More than anything, I look for a song that makes me feel something. If I believe it, and if it makes me feel sad, or feel like laughing, or feel like dancing, it’s my kind of song.”

One day in the studio Lee Ann and Byron found they had an extra hour left at the end of a session. “Byron said, ‘We have time to cut something that you love, just anything from the past.’ I had been listening to The Essential Porter And Dolly, so I said, ‘I’d love to cut “Just Someone I Used To Know.” The guys didn’t even ask which one that was, everybody just stood up, went to their instruments and started playing. We got a key and cut it.”

Womack laughs when she recalls another day in the studio when the engineer was exposed to – and amazed by – her “country soul” way of singing. “I remember I was in the vocal booth and I could see Byron just dying laughing and talking to the engineer, Eric. I asked him what was so funny, and he got on the talkback and said, ‘Eric said, ‘I love her singing, but how does she do that? And where did she learn to do that?’ Byron thought it was so funny because I was just singing country. We went into this big thing about how some people take voice lessons to learn how to sing, but I just sat and listened to real country records, like George Jones, Dolly Parton, and stuff like that. What’s so familiar to me can be so foreign to other people, and I don’t realize that sometimes. But that’s how I learned to sing.”

One listen to There’s More Where That Came From is proof of that. And like the heroes who bared their souls through her father’s turntable, Womack has perfected the art of combining vulnerability with strength. “I hope people will enjoy it,” says Womack. “You can always pull out your old Tammy records or your old George or Dolly records – and I do it consistently, but I think it’s fun to have new recordings of things like that. I hope those people who have been missing out on classic country albums, find that this one fills the void. I hope they hear the honesty in the players, production and the singing. And I hope they have as much fun listening to it as we did making it.”

THERE’S MORE WHERE THAT CAME FROM CUT-BY-CUT

“There’s More Where That Came From”
(Chris Stapleton, Chris DuBois)
When was the last time you heard a female artist play the role of a cheater? ‘It’s been too long since I’ve heard a song like that. The ‘even though I know I shouldn’t, but I’m going to’ kind of song. That’s where I tried to go with this record. I didn’t want to think too hard about whether I should or shouldn’t, I just cut a song if I liked it.

“One’s A Couple”
(Dale Dodson, Billy Lawson, John Northrup)
It just sounded like a beer-drinking, honky tonk song. I didn’t think too much about whether it made a better girl or guy song or whatever. I just liked it, so I cut it.

“I May Hate Myself In The Morning”
(Odie Blackman)
That’s almost too real. It’s one of those songs that almost makes the listener uncomfortable.

“The Last Time”
(Tony Lane, David Lee, Chris DuBois)
I love Tony Lane’s songwriting and his melodies. I had a lot of fun recording that one. Wes Hightower and Andrea Zonn sang the harmonies on it, and I thought they did a really great job. That’s probably my favorite part of the cut.

“He Oughta Know That By Now”
(Clint Ingersoll, Jeremy Spillman)
It’s so hard for me to find up-tempo songs that I like that aren’t fluff. That’s why I was drawn to this song.

“Twenty Years And Two Husbands Ago”
(Lee Ann Womack, Dale Dodson, Dean Dillon)
I was in my office talking to my assistant. She asked me a question and I said, ‘I can’t remember - lordy, that was 20 years and two husbands ago.’ And I thought, ‘Bingo! There’s the next song I’m writing.’ (laughs)

“Happiness”
(Kostas)
Missy brought this song to me and said, ‘You’re cutting this song, that’s all there is to it.’ (laughs) And I played it for Frank just to make sure and he thought it was great. I thought it might be a little weird for me to cut because it might sound like I was giving an old man advice or something, but it’s just a story song and a good little lesson.

“When You Get To Me”
(Bill Luther, Marv Green)
More than anything I just liked the way that one felt. It felt like you were getting on the road and just driving.

“Painless”
(Luke Laird, Bill Luther, Hillary Lindsey)
I cut ‘Painless’ because of the line, ‘Said you felt like those dirty dishes and it was high time you came clean.’ There must’ve been a lot hurt flying around the writer’s session that day.

“What I Miss About Heaven”
(Annie Roboff, Marcus Hummond)
Up-tempo, smart lyric, banjo and fiddle player (Bryan Sutton and Aubrey Haney) playing their asses off.

“Waiting For The Sun To Shine”
(Sonny Throckmorton)
That’s one I’ve always wanted to cut. I just love Ricky Skaggs’ record on that. And I love to hear harmonies. I could listen to just a cappella stuff. I sort of cut this one more so to sing the harmony part than the lead!

“Stubborn (Psalm 151)”
(Don Schlitz, Brett James)
‘Stubborn’ is one of the best songs I’ve ever heard in my life. When I heard the demo, I couldn’t believe it. It brought me to my knees. I got about halfway through the song and literally, tears were streaming down my face. It’s funny because I came home one time, nobody was home, but there was this CD lying on the kitchen counter that had ‘Psalm 151’ written on it. I thought, ‘If someone wrote a song and entitled it ‘Psalm 151,’ that must be an important Psalm, but for the life of me I couldn’t remember that one.’ So I went and got my Bible, and found there was no Psalm 151. I was eager to hear the song so I put the CD in and was crying by the middle of the song. When Frank came home I met him at the door and asked him what it was. After listening to it he said, ‘That might be one of the best songs I’ve ever heard.’

ACCOLADES & CAREER ACHIEVEMENTS AWARDS

2002

Grammy Award - Country Vocal Event of the Year - "Mendocino County Line" with Willie Nelson
Country Music Association (CMA) Award – Vocal Event of the Year – “Mendocino County Line” with Willie Nelson
Academy of Country Music (ACM) Award – Vocal Event of the Year – “Mendocino County Line” with Willie Nelson

2001

Grammy Award – Best Country Song – “I Hope You Dance”
CMA Award – Female Vocalist of the Year
Billboard Award - Adult Contemporary Song of the Year – “I Hope You Dance”

2000

ACM Award – Single of the Year – “I Hope You Dance”
ACM Award – Song of the Year – “I Hope You Dance”
ACM Award – Vocal Event of the Year – “I Hope You Dance”
CMA Award – Song of the Year – “I Hope You Dance”
CMA Award – Single of the Year – “I Hope You Dance”

1998

American Music Association (AMA) Award – Favorite New Country Artist

1997

ACM Top New Female Vocalist
British Country Music Award - Best International Country Album of the Year

NOMINATIONS:

2002

AMA Award – Favorite Female Artist, Country Music

2001

Grammy Award – Song of the Year – “I Hope You Dance”
Grammy Award – Best Female Country Vocal Performance
Grammy Award – Best Country Song – “I Hope You Dance”
Grammy Award – Best Country Album – I Hope You Dance
ACM Award – Single Record of the Year – “I Hope You Dance”
ACM Award – Song of the Year – “I Hope You Dance”
ACM Award – Album of the Year – I Hope You Dance
ACM Award – Top Female Vocalist
ACM Award – Video of the Year – “I Hope You Dance”
ACM Award – Vocal Event of the Year – “I Hope You Dance” with Sons of the Desert

2000

CMA Award – Female Vocalist

CMA Award – Album of the Year – I Hope You Dance
CMA Award – Song and Single of the Year – “I Hope You Dance”
CMA Award – Video of the Year – “I Hope You Dance”
CMA Award – Vocal Event – “I Hope You Dance” with Sons of the Desert

1998

CMA Award – Horizon

1997

CMA Award – Horizon

ACM Award - Song of the Year - "The Fool"

CAREER ACHIEVEMENTS:

Four #1 hits:

"The Fool"
"A Little Past Little Rock"
"I'll Think of a Reason Later"
"I Hope You Dance"

Three Top 10 Hits:

"You've Got To Talk To Me"
"Now You See Me (Now You Don't)"
"Ashes By Now"

Lee Ann Womack - Certified Platinum
Some Things I Know - Certified Gold
I Hope You Dance - Certified Triple Platinum

Three appearances on The Tonight Show in less than a year Oprah

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Lee Ann Womack - There's More Where That Came From