{"id":1313706,"date":"2019-08-19T10:02:48","date_gmt":"2019-08-19T16:02:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/news\/?p=1810625"},"modified":"2019-08-19T10:02:48","modified_gmt":"2019-08-19T16:02:48","slug":"lee-ann-womack-never-settles-for-the-path-of-least-resistance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/music-news\/lee-ann-womack-never-settles-for-the-path-of-least-resistance\/","title":{"rendered":"Lee Ann Womack Never Settles for the Path of Least Resistance"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/cmt.mtvnimages.com\/uri\/mgid:ao:image:cmt.com:307291?width=1200&amp;height=675&amp;.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"><\/div>\n<p><span class=\"byline\">by <span class=\"author\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/news\/author\/morrise\/\" title=\"Posts by Edward Morris\" rel=\"author\">Edward Morris<\/a><\/span> <span class=\"date\">38m ago<\/span><\/span> <\/p>\n<p>For an artist who\u2019s had only one No. 1 single since she first charted 22 years ago, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/artists\/lee-ann-womack\">Lee Ann Womack<\/a> has exerted an outsized influence on country and Americana music. The Texas native, who turns 53 today, has gained her eminence through a voice that probes lyrics to expose the very last shreds of emotion.<\/p>\n<p>Alluding to her duets with him on his 2016 album, <em>For Better, or Worse<\/em>, John Prine remarked, \u201cNow there\u2019s a girl who could sing the phone book and you wouldn\u2019t know it\u2019s the phone book.\u201d She is currently gracing two songs on Rodney Crowell\u2019s new album, <em>Texas<\/em>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"deferred_content\">Embedded from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/8PAEQvoVfO0?feature=oembed\">www.youtube.com<\/a>. <noscript class=\"deferred_content\" data-deferred-info=\"{&quot;type&quot;:&quot;iframe&quot;}\"><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/8PAEQvoVfO0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\">[embedded content]<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><\/noscript><\/div>\n<p>When she first entered the charts in 1997 with \u201cNever Again, Again,\u201d Womack was generally ranked as a country traditionalist, a designation firmed up by such subsequent releases as \u201cThe Fool,\u201d \u201cYou\u2019ve Got to Talk to Me,\u201d \u201cA Little Past Little Rock\u201d and the delightfully bitchy \u201cI\u2019ll Think of a Reason Later.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Then in 2000 came her massive crossover hit, \u201cI Hope You Dance.\u201d A winsome exhortation to seize life rather than view it from the sidelines, the song topped both the country and adult contemporary charts and won a Country Music Association award for single of the year. The album for which it was the title song eventually sold more than three million copies. Above all else, though, \u201cI Hope You Dance\u201d showed that Womack was perfectly capable of establishing her own vocal categories.<\/p>\n<div class=\"deferred_content\">Embedded from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/RV-Z1YwaOiw?feature=oembed\">www.youtube.com<\/a>. <noscript class=\"deferred_content\" data-deferred-info=\"{&quot;type&quot;:&quot;iframe&quot;}\"><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/RV-Z1YwaOiw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\">[embedded content]<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><\/noscript><\/div>\n<p>She scored one more Top 5 and one Top 10 singles after that high point \u2014 \u201cAshes By Now\u201d (2000) and \u201cI May Hate Myself in the Morning\u201d (2004), respectively \u2014 but she has yet to regain her early chart prominence. However, not being consumed by chasing hits seemed to free Womack to range musically wherever her affections led her.<\/p>\n<p>The list of artists she\u2019s recorded and\/or performed with is mind-melting. It includes Willie Nelson, Vince Gill, George Strait, Asleep at the Wheel, Dolly Parton, Don Henley, Alan Jackson, Gene Watson, Rhett Akins, Joe Nichols, Randy Houser, Martina McBride, Mark Wills, Blind Boys of Alabama, Jamey Johnson, David Nail, Jim Lauderdale, Brothers Osborne and the aforesaid Prine and Crowell.<\/p>\n<p>That practically IS the phone book.<\/p>\n<div class=\"deferred_content\">Embedded from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/gS35hISn7x0?feature=oembed\">www.youtube.com<\/a>. <noscript class=\"deferred_content\" data-deferred-info=\"{&quot;type&quot;:&quot;iframe&quot;}\"><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/gS35hISn7x0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\">[embedded content]<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><\/noscript><\/div>\n<p>Last year, ASCAP honored Womack with its Golden Note Award, a prize reserved for \u201csongwriters, composers and artists who have achieved extraordinary career milestones.\u201d During the ceremony, Alison Krauss, Chris Stapleton, Buddy Miller and Lillie Mae each sang songs that Womack had made famous. Introducing her for the award, ASCAP president and fabled songwriter Paul Williams proclaimed that her songs \u201cslice life wide open and let the pain out and the love in.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Not a bad legacy to look back on.<\/p>\n<div class=\"deferred_content\">Embedded from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/9oCdAvyAsAo?feature=oembed\">www.youtube.com<\/a>. <noscript class=\"deferred_content\" data-deferred-info=\"{&quot;type&quot;:&quot;iframe&quot;}\"><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/9oCdAvyAsAo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\">[embedded content]<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><\/noscript><\/div>\n<div class=\"author\">\n<div class=\"description\">Edward Morris is a veteran of country music journalism. He lives in Nashville, Tennessee, and is a frequent contributor to CMT.com.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/news\/1810625\/lee-ann-womack-never-settles-for-the-path-of-least-resistance\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: CMT News<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Edward Morris 38m ago For an artist who\u2019s had only one No. 1 single since she first charted 22 years ago, Lee Ann Womack has exerted an outsized influence on country and Americana music. The Texas native, who turns 53 today, has gained her eminence through a voice that probes lyrics to expose the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[159],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1313706","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-music-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-13 09:23:21","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1313706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1313706"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1313706\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1313706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1313706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1313706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}