She was a tiny, Texas girl helping her mother with Saturday morning chores when she first heard a country song spilling from a nearby radio. She knew right then what she wanted to do with her life.
It also didn’t hurt to have supportive parents.
“When I was a little girl, my dad used to take me the radio station where he was a deejay, and I’d listen to all those classic country songs. I just fell in love with what was in the music, the heart and the soul, and I knew that was something I wanted to be a part of,” said country artist Lee Ann Womack. “And watching all the awards shows on TV, seeing different artists when they came to town, that really struck a chord in me; that really gave me the vision of what they do.
“I wanted to do it, too.”
She will tonight. Womack’s country-to-the-bone voice will be on display at The Venue, Downstream Casino’s 6,000-seat outdoor arena.
Thanks to those harmonizing voices on the radio, she naturally gravitated toward country music, though she loves all kinds of musical genres.
“But really, when I want to get right down inside the way something feels, good or bad, I always find myself coming back to country music,” Womack said. “There is nothing quite so honest out there that I’ve found, that willingness to really talk about how raw things are or the little details of a moment that is so precious.
“You hear a country song, and you know why, not just what happened.”
Because she grew up listening to country legends such as Tammy Wynette and Dolly Parton, her songs and self-penned lyrics serve as throwbacks to the way country used to be: slower, more heartfelt, more sad.
They were the type of songs typical of country music from the 1960s-1980s, before country began to sound more like George Harrison or George Thorogood rather than George Jones.
It’s linking to the roots of the musical genre she loves that has helped sustain her career and continue to grow her fan base.
“I’ve come to have a strong sense of who I am, and I try to put that in the music,” she said. “I know I love country songs, but also progressive country songs that have that same soul. You hear Buddy or Julie Miller, and that’s the same kind of heart that was Ray Price or Ferlin Huskey. You hear a Ronnie Bowman song and that’s like the Louvins or the Delmores.”
While Womack flirted with pop music elements in her 2002 release, “Something Worth Leaving Behind,” she’s mostly known for her traditional country songs and ballads, such as “Last Call,” about an alcohol-induced bar stool phone call, and “I Hope You Dance,” which more closely resembles the works of the musical legends she adores.
“When you understand what you should sing, I think people tend to believe in you,” Womack said. “They want to hear your songs, because maybe they feel it, too, but didn’t even know (it). Then they recognize it in their own lives. That’s what a lot of people have said to me, going all the way back to ‘The Fool’ and ‘A Little Past Little Rock,’ and that’s something you hear and never want to lose track of.”
The songs mentioned by Womack above are just two of the nearly two dozen top-20 hits she’s garnered since her debut album. Other key songs include “I’ll Think of a Reason Later,” “Ashes by Now” and “I May Hate Myself in the Morning.”
When asked why so many country songs tend to be sad emotionally, with the mournful wailing howl of a steel guitar, she merely shrugged and said life in general is sad.
“I think that’s why people feed jukeboxes quarters, to have someone to share the misery with. And you know, nothing can gut you quite like a sad country song. If you wanna feel bad, buddy, put on an old country record -- that’ll do it. Also ... country music is one of those places where the songwriters and the artists have been willing to sing about those things a lot of people just try to ignore.”
Presently, Womack has released a half-dozen studio albums along with two compilations. Four of her studio albums have received gold certification; overall she’s sold five million albums in the U.S. In addition, she’s received five Academy of Country Music Awards, five Country Music Association Award and two Grammy Awards.
Gates at The Venue open at 6:30 p.m., rain or shine, with the concert beginning at 8 p.m.
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