Heidi Newfield photo by Erick Anderson, courtesy of Curb/Asylum Records.

She’s thinking, obviously, of her NFL agent husband, whom she married in June 2004. "It takes a special man to watch their spouse get on a bus and go up & down the road," says Heidi. "This job takes a lot out of you and it is very time consuming, and even when you’re home you’re not sometimes. My wheels are always turning, and he goes off in that way too. But then you have your time together. We do a good job supporting one another." Married shortly after Heidi’s mother passed away, the couple’s support system is certainly tried and true. "2004 was a year of transitions," she recalls. "Interesting, and sad—the ultimate joy and the ultimate pain and sorrow at the same time. But my mom, it’s weird, because I really feel her. She’s with me very much. She’s right there with me."

Growing up on a horse farm in Healdsburg, CA, in the heart of Sonoma County wine country, Heidi’s talent was lovingly nurtured by her mother and father. Every trail ride, every horse show and rodeo was set to a soundtrack of Ernest Tubb, Loretta Lynn, Patsy Cline and all the great traditionalists. Later—to her mother’s dismay—Heidi’s two older sisters turned her on to the great rock bands of the 60’s and 70’s: The Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, and AC\DC. Heidi also fell in love with traditional blues, and began playing the harmonica at an early age, attracted by what she calls "the most lonesome sound on the planet."

From the first time she ever picked up a microphone at the age of 5 or 6, Heidi was blessed not only with enormous vocal talent, but the conviction that she was meant to be a singer. "I never really veered off that path," she explains. "And my parents, fortunately, were very supportive." She remembers her first trip to Nashville at age 13 to record a demo: "We didn’t know what we were doing, and we certainly didn’t have the money to be running me all over back and forth between Nashville, but they did their very best to try to support me."

Heidi Newfield photo by Erick Anderson, courtesy of Curb/Asylum Records.

Between the loss of a parent and her new marriage, Heidi Newfield is in a very different place now than when hard-partying, good-timing Trick Pony hit the scene in 2001, and her new album reflects that. "There are parts of this record that are not just about a man and a woman for me," she explains. "They’re about my experiences all the way around, like leaving the group, and my feelings about that, the pain and the hurt, or the joy of being independent and standing on my own two feet. Everybody who listens to this record can take these songs, and place them in their lives, and relate to them."

The diversity of the song selection is striking: from to the bleak melancholy of "Wreck You," the sweaty desperation of "Can’t Let Go," and the angry wail of "Nothing Burns Like A Memory," Heidi reaches not just new heights as an artist, but new depths as well. She gracefully leads us through the sweet, breathy yearning of "All I Wanta Do," the simple hurt of "Love Her And Lose Me," and the retro groove of "Tears Fall Down." Closing with the "redneck-clever" anthem "Knocked Up," the album whirls its way through a 360 degree tour of Heidi Newfield.

"I wanted to create a body of work, no matter how long it took me," Heidi explains. "I had no interest in just going in and making another Nashville country record that gets thrown out there. I really was only interested in cutting a record that was going to step out and have some relevance in this day and age, when we’re head-to-toe in pop culture, and videos, and imagery, and we don’t always listen with our ears anymore, we listen with our eyes. So I wanted to create a record that in my opinion stood out. I wanted it to be different without having to try to make it different. I just wanted to make a really relevant, important piece of work. That hopefully would be an important piece of work," she amends with a laugh.

Here’s hoping.