The Musical Box

lee ann womack. photo by james minchin.

It’s not a comment Lee Ann Womack, a reliable country hitmaker for over a decade, was used to hearing.

“Where’ve you been?”

For the East Texas native, recording and road work have been a steady way of life ever since she issued her platinum-selling debut album and a couple of staunchly traditional country hits in 1997, all of which led to winning honors as Top New Female Vocalist by the Academy of Country Music that year.

While the 2000 Grammy-winning country-pop hit, I Hope You Dance continues to define Womack’s commercial profile, she has, indeed, been a little out of the spotlight in recent years. 2005’s There’s More Where That Came From, with its regally retro-designed album cover and reflections of Billy Sherrill-produced country hits of the early 70s, did nicely on the charts. But the release of a 2006 follow-up, Finding My Way Home, was delayed and eventually shelved. That’s when Womack did a little reappraisal of what she wanted from a country music career.

“I feel like I’ve been a part of this business since I was born,” said Womack, who returns to Lexington to inaugurate the Alltech Festival at Applebee’s Park with Alan Jackson on Wednesday. “And I think I’ll always feel like I will be in one way or another. I guess I just never thought of myself as coming or going.

“Now, people say to me, ‘Oh we thought you retired. We haven’t heard from you. Don’t you miss playing music?’ And I always say, ‘I still play music. I’m here at home playing, writing and recording music all the time.’ But I found I just had to keep my head and heart in line and in the right place.”

That’s where the fate of Finding My Way Home comes in. With a solid decade of recording and touring behind her, Womack admitted Finding My Way Home was simply “made for the wrong reasons.” The album’s title track was released briefly to country radio and quickly fizzled. Womack then asked for a delay in the album’s release. But management, record label executives and even the singer herself later agreed to can the record entirely.

“I felt like I went in and started making a record simply because it was time to make another record. It was about meeting the commitments of my record deal, that sort of thing. That’s not to say that none of that material won’t ever be heard. Just as a whole, though, I knew the album wasn’t going to come out. I think I was making that record more in my head that my heart. And I always have more luck and success when I follow my heart instead.”

That is pretty much what Womack has done throughout her life in country music. Where many singers have borrowed from the specific inspirations of musicians in their immediate circle of friends and family, Womack borrowed from an entirely different legacy. Her father wasn’t a musician, but a country music disc jockey. So for the better part of her East Texas youth, she did something few aspiring singers made time for. She listened. And listened and listened.

“I sat around and listened to records all the time. I’d dig through my dad’s collection and then dig through the records at the station he worked for. That’s all I ever did. I think my parents were worried about me.

“By the time I got to high school and could drive, I started going to concerts. I’d sneak into clubs when I wasn’t old enough. I’d drive to Dallas and not tell my parents. I did everything I could to go hear music.”

As Womack’s career began to take off, there were a few more mentors on her side. One was so taken with her debut single, Never Again, Again, that he began singing Womack’s praises almost as much as he was his own hit songs. His name was Alan Jackson.

“That song was just so very, very country. I think he had missed hearing that from any new artists that were coming out back then. I just really, really, really appreciate working with Alan more than any other country artist.”

Womack’s next career step comes this fall with another new album called Call Me Crazy, which teams her with veteran producer Tony Brown. A single from the record, a sterling bit of acoustic barroom heartache called Last Call, hit country radio late last month.

“I’ve taken some time off the road to write more and just to live more. When you’re on the road and totally immersed with your career, you’re not really living a normal life. It’s when I’m living a normal life that I come up with the best material for people to relate to.

“I feel like in order to be truly creative, you just need to pull out for a little bit. Now, you don’t need to be creative to be successful. But I have to be creative to be happy. And that’s something I have to do to make the best music I can.”

Alan Jackson and Lee Ann Womack perform at 7 p.m. July 30 at Applebee’s Park. Tickets: $50, $60, $85, $100. Call: (859) 422-7867.