"I spent two years putting my heart, soul and guts into this record. I think people who hear it will get something from it, because in the last two or three years, I've lived all of it! From moving to a new town and knowing no one to falling in love and getting my heart broken... it's the things that every one of us goes through. It's what makes life what it is, and that includes sharing the stuff on this record!"
Sherrie' Austin is a 26-year-old spark plug of a woman who meets life on its own terms. Having spent the last three years dedicated to her songwriting, she steps into the spotlight with Words, a debut that examines the many facets of life, love and getting by. "I moved to Nashville to write, and I didn't even think about getting a record deal," Sherrie' (pronounced sha-ree) explains. "I came to town with all these ideas, these scraps of paper with lyrics and bits of melodies and was determined to put them together. There's nothing that frustrates me more, nor thrills me more.
And the more I do it, the more I learn about myself. It's always evolving, so even though it's difficult sometimes, I can't stop writing. It's where the truth comes out." That commitment allows Austin to write from a place of both strength and vulnerability. In the convergence of those two realities, she embraces the inherent humanity in us all -- and finds plenty of room to let romance find its proper place in the spectrum. "There's definitely a love theme here," the dark-haired vocalist says with a laugh. "The album's whole journey is about love: losing love, finding love, unrequited love, unconditional love. "A lot of it has to do with getting my heart broken for the first time. It's amazing what you learn from that.I used to write about what I thought you were supposed to feel. Now I know, and it came out in the songs.
"My favorite songs have always been the ones that made me feel something. That's what I wanted for this record. Everybody relates to pain more than happiness, because everybody feels that; it's such a strong emotion. But you can also have with it a sense of humor about love. "It's in catching those emotions just right that songs strike you. I worked very hard on that. And that's why we decided to call this album Words. It's very simple, and the words are so very important." With Words, Nashville welcomes another strong female point-of-view to the party.
Having written or co-written seven of the album's ten songs -- and recording outside material that filled in the gaps of what she wanted to say -- Austin and producers Ed Seay and Will Rambeaux created an album that embodies the joy that is coming-of-age with the kind of tenacity that allows people to keep at their quest for love. In addition to using some of Nashville's finest musicians, there are special guest appearances by Vince Gill ["I Wanna Fall In Love (So Hard It Hurts")], Mary-Anne Kennedy and Pam Rose ["Innocent Man"] and Linda Ronstadt's veteran steel guitarist Dan Dugmore ["One Solitary Tear"]. "Everyone who came in brought so much to the music," Austin says with a smile.
Raised by a father who was a contractor and a mother who loved country music and wasn't afraid to chase the dream, the petite songstress began traveling to country festivals in her native Australia at 13 years of age. "My Mom would check out the papers, then we'd pack up my Dad's truck, toss a tent in back and off we'd go." It wasn't long until the precocious talent caught the ears of some of Australia's leading country music champions. After singing "Jolene" and "Queen of Hearts" for her stage debut, Sherrie?found herself opening a series of concerts for Johnny Cash in her satin cowgirl skirt and matching hat just shy of her 15th birthday. With a fearless sense of adventure and an awareness of the limited opportunities for Sherrie' in their native land, the family decided to stake their claim in the U.S. With her father continuing his work re-modeling houses and her mother landing a job as a chef, the family settled in Los Angeles.
But L.A. would never be home to a progressive girl with traditional influences like Dolly Parton and Loretta Lynn. And as her adolescence melted away, Sherrie' started asking herself a lot of the hard questions impending adulthood creates.
"In your early 20s, you start questioning everything you do. 'Is this what I want to be doing for the rest of my life?,' that sort of thing. I didn't feel like that with the music I was making, and it freaked me out because I'd always known exactly what I wanted. "One day, I woke up, went upstairs to Mom and said, 'I'm gonna go to Nashville.' She looked at me and I thought she was gonna say, 'What? Are you nuts?' But she said, 'It's about bloody time.' So they'd been waiting for me to realize Nashville was where I belonged for a long time." Armed with a few telephone numbers and an offer to house sit for songwriter Jan Buckingham ("Cleopatra, Queen of Denial"), Austin decided to try her luck.
Selling her musical equipment to raise the plane fare, the girl with the quick smile and dancing eyes came to town on a wing and a dream. But it wasn't long before she ran into Will Rambeaux ("Wild One"), who shared her creative vision. Though she'd been given his publisher's number, it was an off-chance meeting at an ASCAP #1 party that sealed the deal. Soon the pair began exploring the possibilities of Austin's songwriting. In the process, they found a simpatico musical vision that led to Rambeaux's co-producing Words. "I grew up on the Loretta Lynn, Skeeter Davis and Johnny Cash that my Mother listened to," Sherrie' admits. "But I'm also a product of the '70s. I love the melodies of Bread, Elton John and Simon and Garfunkel because they just sweep you up and are so gorgeous. "But the thing about country music is the lyrics.
It tells a story. It's about human emotions and feelings. I like the idea of writing and singing about things that are real. That -- more than anything -- is what we were after when we were putting this album together. "I also received a lot of encouragement from people I really respect. When I'd go in to play songs for Tim DuBois (Arista/Nashville President), he was pretty tough on me. He'd tell me, 'You're a writer and I want you to write the songs for this album. I want you to write the best songs you have in you, and that means working hard.' Tim pushed me, and it really paid off." Paid off, indeed. Whether it's the first single "Lucky In Love," which percolates on quick-witted wordplay and basic reality, the breath-taking "One Solitary Tear" or the friendly warning of "Put Your Heart Into It," Austin reveals the essence of what women need and men want. It's a heady combination, but when you back this much verve with old-fashioned common sense, a romantic streak a mile wide and an "aw shucks" grin, you ca
n't help but fall in love.
"I don't think men and women are all that different really," Sherrie' laughs. "There doesn't really have to be war between the sexes, you know. At the end of it, we all just want love and the knowledge that there's someone out there who really cares for us. "It's simple stuff. So when we were making Words, I wanted to make sure we were pretty straight ahead. I wanted to have some fun on here, as well, so it's not all darkness and pain. Yes, I got my heart broken. But love is fun, too; you should want that! "Now that I've learned that, I've got a bit of a sense of humor about love. It's better than slitting your wrists, and it keeps you going. If my album can get that across, then I'm happy." With Words, Sherrie' more than delivers on her promise. With a strong vision and a voice that carries emotional current like electricity, she's figured out how to strike the perfect balance. Charged with that knowledge, there's probably nothing she can't do -- or won't be willing to try -- in the name of music."
