{"id":1319908,"date":"2020-05-13T09:00:50","date_gmt":"2020-05-13T15:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/news\/?p=1821044"},"modified":"2020-05-13T09:00:50","modified_gmt":"2020-05-13T15:00:50","slug":"rita-wilson-i-didnt-wait-this-long-to-become-a-songwriter-so-that-i-could-play-it-safe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/music-news\/rita-wilson-i-didnt-wait-this-long-to-become-a-songwriter-so-that-i-could-play-it-safe\/","title":{"rendered":"Rita Wilson: \u201cI Didn\u2019t Wait This Long to Become a Songwriter So That I Could Play It Safe\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

by Alison Bonaguro<\/a><\/span> 14m ago<\/span><\/span> <\/p>\n

Rita Wilson\u2019s latest country song started on Instagram.<\/p>\n

She\u2019d had the title for \u201cWhere\u2019s My Country Song?\u201d on her mind when she got an Instagram message from 2010 American Idol<\/em> champ Lee DeWyze.<\/p>\n

\u201cApparently, Lee\u2019s wife Jonna (Walsh) had heard my Halfway to Home<\/a> and she suggested that he reach out to me to write together. She thought that Lee and I would find common ground,\u201d Wilson told me, \u201cand she was right.\u201d<\/p>\n

So in November of last year, in a carefree pre-pandemic world, DeWyze and Wilson got together at her little writing room in Los Angeles. \u201cI had the title of the song already,\u201d she said, \u201cbecause when I think about women in all genres of music, there\u2019s sort of an idealized female in the song. But in a way, that woman is just a fantasy.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I wanted to explore writing about the women who are the real women. The ones we all know. The ones who are out there raising children or working behind the scenes, and I wanted to honor them somehow. My mom, my sister, and all of the women who don\u2019t have songs written about them. So I had that idea and pitched it to Lee. Then the minute he started strumming the melody in the beginning, I knew that that was the right tone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wilson\u2019s not wrong. Try to think of country songs about women who aren\u2019t<\/em> just the girls in a country song. It\u2019s a pretty short list.<\/p>\n

There is Lori McKenna\u2019s brand new \u201cWhen You\u2019re My Age<\/a>.\u201d There was The Highwomen\u2019s \u201cRedesigning Women<\/a>\u201d in 2019. There was Carrie Underwood\u2019s \u201cWhat I Never Knew I Always Wanted<\/a>\u201d in 2015. There was Jamie O\u2019Neal\u2019s \u201cSomebody\u2019s Hero<\/a>\u201d in 2005. There was Reba McEntire\u2019s \u201cIs There Life Out There?<\/a>\u201d in 1991. There was Dolly Parton\u2019s \u201c9 to 5<\/a>\u201d in 1980. And maybe a few more. But you get the idea.<\/p>\n

So it\u2019s about time for more of those kinds of songs. Songs that Wilson says are for and about the women who aren\u2019t being represented or reflected in the songs out there. \u201cThat\u2019s what I listen for and listen to,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

That said, she is encouraged by the recent chart success of artists like Ingrid Andress and Gabby Barrett. But sadly, those chart-toppers are anomalies in the male-dominated country music genre we live in right now.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I am trying to do is expand the vision of women who are out there. But I think people won\u2019t write those kinds of songs if they don\u2019t believe they will ever get played on the radio. They may have those songs in them, but figure no one will ever hear them. I don\u2019t get played on radio. I\u2019d like to,\u201d she added, \u201cbut I didn\u2019t wait this long to become a songwriter so that I could play it safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Everything about being a songwriter and a performer right now has been about taking risks and putting herself out there, Wilson said. \u201cIf I\u2019m gonna do that, then what I have to say has to be truthful about what I\u2019m observing and what I want put out there in the world. There\u2019s room for everybody. We don\u2019t just have this one narrow niche that is the experience of what it\u2019s like to be a woman. There is room to add more voices to this. Why is there only room for certain points of view?\u201d<\/p>\n

And that is indeed the million-dollar question that\u2019s behind the song that asks \u201cWhere\u2019s My Country Song?\u201d<\/p>\n

Embedded from www.youtube.com<\/a>.