LeAnn Rimes: Living the 'Family' Way
Deborah Evans Price
October 11, 2007
Every artist has an album they view as a landmark, representing a major progression that will change public perception and even take their career to a new level. LeAnn Rimes sees her new Curb Records release, Family, as that album.
"It's exciting for me because I do feel I've become this artist and not just this voice," said Rimes, who, for the first time, co-wrote every track. "I think that people have known me for my voice, and I accept that and I appreciate that. But there's this whole other side of me that's always been there."
She's not alone in this opinion. Curb Records Chairman Mike Curb insisted, "This album shows LeAnn's evolution as a songwriter as well as an artist, but it also show's LeAnn's ability to relate to her family and her life in a very mature way. This is even more amazing when you consider that when we first signed LeAnn as a teenager she already had the ability to sing and interpret as an adult, but now she is doing it from the perspective of a woman sharing her own experiences in a very direct manner."
Though she's been writing songs for a long time, Rimes said that she never felt as confident in her songwriting as she did her singing. That changed with this album.
"I've been listening to Bright Eyes and a lot of Bob Dylan," she said. "And I listened to Tracy Chapman's last record [WhereYou Live]. Those records have kind of a rootsy sound and very honest writing. I thought, 'I can do that and I want to do it.' We set out to write commercial choruses that were hooky with verses that said something and were honest."
Rimes wanted these songs to express her feelings and yet speak universally enough that others would see themselves in their lyrics. "I wanted to write songs that said something about me and about my ideas and views," said Rimes, who turned 25 on Aug. 28. "And I wanted to write so people would be able to find themselves in the songs and hear their stories, so it's part me and part them.
"I think that's why I wanted to call the record Family," she continued, "because I feel they've grown up with me, I've grown up with them and this whole world kind of became my family in a way. Everybody has known about every part of my life, including all the trials and tribulations I've gone through personally with my family. I felt like it was time to share those deep, honest thoughts with everyone."
Few artists in any genre have grown up as much in the public eye as Rimes. The Jackson, Miss., native won her first talent contest at age 5. Her family moved from Mississippi to Texas when she was 6, and there the young artist's career flourished. She sang the national anthem at Dallas Cowboys games and became a regular on "Johnnie High's Country Music Revue," held weekly at the time in Fort Worth. At age 7, she cut her first album. By the time she was 11, she'd recorded her sophomore album at Norman Petty's studio in Clovis, N.M.
Her career hit high gear with the song "Blue," which inspired Mike Curb to sign the young artist to a record deal. "Blue" became a monster hit, and at age 14, Rimes became the youngest artist to win a Grammy - two of them, actually, as Best New Artist and for Best Female Country Vocal Performance. She also picked up the CMA Horizon Award in 1997.
Since then, Rimes has sold more than 37 million albums and scored numerous hit singles, among them "One Way Ticket," "I Need You," "Nothin' 'bout Love Makes Sense," "Probably Wouldn't Be This Way" and "How Do I Live," which spent a record-setting 69 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100.
In addition to achieving both pop and Country success in the United States, Rimes became a successful pop act in Europe, where she released Whatever We Wanna, for which she developed another side of her creativity by co-writing 10 out of 15 tracks.
"We weren't finding songs that fit me," she recalled. "One of the record people asked if I would be willing to write, and I said, 'Yes, I can write.'"
Rimes conceded that people are sometimes skeptical of artists who turn to songwriting. "People look at an artist and think, 'Well, how much do they really lend to this record?'" she said. "We get a bad rap because a lot of artists do just walk into a room and sit there. I think a lot of songwriters, when I first started writing, expected that to happen and were shocked by the fact that I really can write. I did have my own ideas and opinions and was in there to collaborate. It was scary at first, but I felt like I had a lot to say. I just don't want to write for myself. I want to establish myself as a great songwriter and have others recording my songs."
In fact, Rimes observed, Faith Hill and Jamie O'Neal have been considering some of her compositions for upcoming projects. "It's such a weird thing because I'm usually on the other side as an artist and not the songwriter," said Rimes, who added that she now has a different take on artists placing songs on hold for a long period of time: "I'm never going to do that to a writer again."
Despite these developments, Rimes doesn't plan to abandon Music Row's writing community. She actually did listen to songs submitted for Family before deciding to concentrate exclusively on her own work.
"It wasn't that they weren't good songs," she explained. "It was just they weren't telling my story. I love listening to songs - and who's to say? On the next album, I may only write half of it. I'm never, ever going to turn down a good song, that's for sure."
Produced by Dann Huff and scheduled for release on Oct. 9, Family covers a lot of territory, from the lighthearted first single "Nothin' Better to Do" to the poignant "What I Cannot Change." There are two duets in the mix as well, with Louisiana singer/songwriter Marc Broussard on "Nothing Wrong" as well as a steamy performance with Jon Bon Jovi on "Till We Ain't Strangers Anymore," which appears here as a bonus track as well as on Bon Jovi's new album Lost Highway.
The veteran rocker was impressed with the vocal firepower Rimes brought to their encounter. "I wanted somebody with a strong voice who could pull it off dramatically because I knew it was a dramatic lyric," he said. "I didn't want a young girl that couldn't provide the sexuality in the lyric. She has a seasoned voice. She may be a young woman, but she's been around for a long time and she knows how to translate a lyric."
For an artist who attained success so early in life, Rimes has remained remarkably grounded. In contrast to young celebrities who generate tabloid headlines for their erratic behavior, she has been married happily for five years to Dean Sheremet. The two of them wrote together for Family, an experience that is trying for some writing partners but felt perfectly natural in this case.
"Writing is a very intimate experience," Rimes said, "so I have to be comfortable enough with my co-writers to let down my walls. When writing with Dean, there is an immense sense of security and familiarity. We complement each other very well, each picking up where the other leaves off. We're constantly pushing the other further. It's nice to have a relationship of complete honesty."
There's another secret to the stability of their marriage: her stubbornness. "I knew people were just waiting for me to self-destruct because that's what happens," Rimes said. "And I have that competitive edge to me that I wanted to prove people wrong. Fame and fortune really do strip a lot of things away from you for a little while. It did me. There's a sense of reality that's completely stripped from you, and I've clawed my way back from that. I wanted to get that back. I think it's because I wanted it so badly, I have a good balance now. It's nice to be able to look back and know that I've accomplished so much and be thankful for it, but I know there's so much more left to accomplish. I feel like I'm just beginning with this record."
2007 CMA Close Up News Service / Country Music Association, Inc.
"It's exciting for me because I do feel I've become this artist and not just this voice," said Rimes, who, for the first time, co-wrote every track. "I think that people have known me for my voice, and I accept that and I appreciate that. But there's this whole other side of me that's always been there."
She's not alone in this opinion. Curb Records Chairman Mike Curb insisted, "This album shows LeAnn's evolution as a songwriter as well as an artist, but it also show's LeAnn's ability to relate to her family and her life in a very mature way. This is even more amazing when you consider that when we first signed LeAnn as a teenager she already had the ability to sing and interpret as an adult, but now she is doing it from the perspective of a woman sharing her own experiences in a very direct manner."
Though she's been writing songs for a long time, Rimes said that she never felt as confident in her songwriting as she did her singing. That changed with this album.
"I've been listening to Bright Eyes and a lot of Bob Dylan," she said. "And I listened to Tracy Chapman's last record [WhereYou Live]. Those records have kind of a rootsy sound and very honest writing. I thought, 'I can do that and I want to do it.' We set out to write commercial choruses that were hooky with verses that said something and were honest."
Rimes wanted these songs to express her feelings and yet speak universally enough that others would see themselves in their lyrics. "I wanted to write songs that said something about me and about my ideas and views," said Rimes, who turned 25 on Aug. 28. "And I wanted to write so people would be able to find themselves in the songs and hear their stories, so it's part me and part them.
"I think that's why I wanted to call the record Family," she continued, "because I feel they've grown up with me, I've grown up with them and this whole world kind of became my family in a way. Everybody has known about every part of my life, including all the trials and tribulations I've gone through personally with my family. I felt like it was time to share those deep, honest thoughts with everyone."
Few artists in any genre have grown up as much in the public eye as Rimes. The Jackson, Miss., native won her first talent contest at age 5. Her family moved from Mississippi to Texas when she was 6, and there the young artist's career flourished. She sang the national anthem at Dallas Cowboys games and became a regular on "Johnnie High's Country Music Revue," held weekly at the time in Fort Worth. At age 7, she cut her first album. By the time she was 11, she'd recorded her sophomore album at Norman Petty's studio in Clovis, N.M.
Her career hit high gear with the song "Blue," which inspired Mike Curb to sign the young artist to a record deal. "Blue" became a monster hit, and at age 14, Rimes became the youngest artist to win a Grammy - two of them, actually, as Best New Artist and for Best Female Country Vocal Performance. She also picked up the CMA Horizon Award in 1997.
Since then, Rimes has sold more than 37 million albums and scored numerous hit singles, among them "One Way Ticket," "I Need You," "Nothin' 'bout Love Makes Sense," "Probably Wouldn't Be This Way" and "How Do I Live," which spent a record-setting 69 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100.
In addition to achieving both pop and Country success in the United States, Rimes became a successful pop act in Europe, where she released Whatever We Wanna, for which she developed another side of her creativity by co-writing 10 out of 15 tracks.
"We weren't finding songs that fit me," she recalled. "One of the record people asked if I would be willing to write, and I said, 'Yes, I can write.'"
Rimes conceded that people are sometimes skeptical of artists who turn to songwriting. "People look at an artist and think, 'Well, how much do they really lend to this record?'" she said. "We get a bad rap because a lot of artists do just walk into a room and sit there. I think a lot of songwriters, when I first started writing, expected that to happen and were shocked by the fact that I really can write. I did have my own ideas and opinions and was in there to collaborate. It was scary at first, but I felt like I had a lot to say. I just don't want to write for myself. I want to establish myself as a great songwriter and have others recording my songs."
In fact, Rimes observed, Faith Hill and Jamie O'Neal have been considering some of her compositions for upcoming projects. "It's such a weird thing because I'm usually on the other side as an artist and not the songwriter," said Rimes, who added that she now has a different take on artists placing songs on hold for a long period of time: "I'm never going to do that to a writer again."
Despite these developments, Rimes doesn't plan to abandon Music Row's writing community. She actually did listen to songs submitted for Family before deciding to concentrate exclusively on her own work.
"It wasn't that they weren't good songs," she explained. "It was just they weren't telling my story. I love listening to songs - and who's to say? On the next album, I may only write half of it. I'm never, ever going to turn down a good song, that's for sure."
Produced by Dann Huff and scheduled for release on Oct. 9, Family covers a lot of territory, from the lighthearted first single "Nothin' Better to Do" to the poignant "What I Cannot Change." There are two duets in the mix as well, with Louisiana singer/songwriter Marc Broussard on "Nothing Wrong" as well as a steamy performance with Jon Bon Jovi on "Till We Ain't Strangers Anymore," which appears here as a bonus track as well as on Bon Jovi's new album Lost Highway.
The veteran rocker was impressed with the vocal firepower Rimes brought to their encounter. "I wanted somebody with a strong voice who could pull it off dramatically because I knew it was a dramatic lyric," he said. "I didn't want a young girl that couldn't provide the sexuality in the lyric. She has a seasoned voice. She may be a young woman, but she's been around for a long time and she knows how to translate a lyric."
For an artist who attained success so early in life, Rimes has remained remarkably grounded. In contrast to young celebrities who generate tabloid headlines for their erratic behavior, she has been married happily for five years to Dean Sheremet. The two of them wrote together for Family, an experience that is trying for some writing partners but felt perfectly natural in this case.
"Writing is a very intimate experience," Rimes said, "so I have to be comfortable enough with my co-writers to let down my walls. When writing with Dean, there is an immense sense of security and familiarity. We complement each other very well, each picking up where the other leaves off. We're constantly pushing the other further. It's nice to have a relationship of complete honesty."
There's another secret to the stability of their marriage: her stubbornness. "I knew people were just waiting for me to self-destruct because that's what happens," Rimes said. "And I have that competitive edge to me that I wanted to prove people wrong. Fame and fortune really do strip a lot of things away from you for a little while. It did me. There's a sense of reality that's completely stripped from you, and I've clawed my way back from that. I wanted to get that back. I think it's because I wanted it so badly, I have a good balance now. It's nice to be able to look back and know that I've accomplished so much and be thankful for it, but I know there's so much more left to accomplish. I feel like I'm just beginning with this record."
2007 CMA Close Up News Service / Country Music Association, Inc.
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