Just like an artist, Anderson has continued to evolve to this day. Her most recent album, Cowgirl II, continues to attract rave reviews from the media, and the legend stopped by the recent Country Radio Seminar to talk with Roughstock about what was on her list of upcoming projects.
“I am doing great,” the ageless singer raves. “We’re in the middle of a Gospel Album, which is a tribute to Dottie Rambo. It’s a collaboration album with everybody from Ricky Skaggs to Little Richard, Rhonda Vincent, and Dolly Parton. It’s got such a diverse range of people in it that it is amazing. Solomon Burke came in and sang in a wheelchair, and passed away two days later. So, it’s his last recorded performance. It’s such a wide spectrum of music that it’s really amazing. I’m really looking forward to the release of that.
She’s also working on a new album that will take her to some unchartered ground. “I’m also working on a Spanish-American project,” she said. “We’re doing songs half-English and half-Spanish----like Freddy Fender did, which has never been done by a woman. The lead off song is called “Mexican Angel.” My mother wrote it, and I wrote the Spanish lyrics. I’ve been living in New Mexico for the last twenty years, so we’re looking forward to seeing how that does. There really hasn’t been Spanish since Freddy Fender, I suppose. Johnny Rodreguiz did a little, but not much—he mainly sang in English. We’re looking forward to that.”
Though it’s something stylistically different than anything she has ever done before, she says it’s nonetheless very close to her heart, living in New Mexico and growing up as a rodeo cowgirl in California. It’s a lifestyle she loves. “I split my time between Country Music and horses. Those are the two loves of my life. The music came from my mother, and the horses came from my daddy. Those have always been the things in my life that have made me happy. I like to cook. I like to raise roses. But, really it’s always came back to horses and music, and I’ve been able to maintain that for a long time now. Time just flies when you’re doing something that you really enjoy doing. I’ve been very blessed to make a living doing what I love to do.”
The musical side of Lynn Anderson was influenced greatly by her parents, Liz and Casey Anderson—writers and recording artists themselves. Liz appeared on the top ten hit “The Game Of Triangles” along with Bobby Bare and Norma Jean. With their musical background, Lynn never knew who might be stopping by their house before or after a show.
“After concerts, people would come to our house and have a late dinner or early breakfast,” she recalls. “People like Merle Haggard and Buck Owens would come to the house after hours and play music in the living room. Mother would whip up some bacon and eggs and feed everybody. So, I literally grew up from age ten with people like them, Freddie Hart, Tommy Collins, and Wynn Stewart literally in the living room. I never thought anything about it. Mother would go fix pancakes and say to me ‘Teach Merle this song,’ because I knew all Mom and Dad’s songs word for word. So, there I’d be at two in the morning, singing ‘From Now On, All My Friends Are Gonna Be Strangers,’ teaching him the melody and all that. So I literally grew up in the middle of the business.” Anderson must have done a wonderful job in teaching Haggard the lyrics, as it became his breakthrough hit in 1965.
Anderson says that memories like that were commonplace for her as a child—something that she thinks artists like Pam Tillis might have shared, growing up in another famous musical family. “Pam probably had the same type of childhood with those people just dropping by, and not ever thinking anything about it,” she said, adding that “I literally grew into the business, knowing all those people, and with it being music with breakfast. That’s how it was. That was life to me. It was just normal. “
When she’s not performing or recording, Anderson can be found at her New Mexico home with husband Mentor Williams, as well as other family members---and that circle keeps growing. Within the past year, I had my first grandchild on July 1—a little girl named Matilda Grace. My first grandson was born on January 5. Just a few weeks ago, we were all together, my mom and dad, my kids, and the grandkids. We took four generation photographs----Wow! I’m not that old. Am I that old? I don’t feel it. It is amazing to think of yourself as grown up. I’m grown up now. Looking at your grandchildren, you have to think ‘I guess that means I’m a grown-up now.’ What a wonderful life.”
And what a life it has been, and continues to be. Has she ever thought about writing an autobiography? “I always wanted to wait to write a book until I knew there was a happy ending,” she said, but adding that “It may be time for a book, but if I tell the whole story, I’ll get shot, but there’s some good and some bad. It’s an interesting story. It would not be a boring read, for my life has had some tremendously exciting times, and some pretty sad times here and there, but interesting for sure.”
What would the title be? I Never Promised You A Rose Garden, perhaps? Maybe Listen To A Country Song, one of her other major hits. Nope, she’s got a different idea! “I could call it To Be Continued, she says with a smile!
For more on Lynn Anderson, log on to www.LynnAndersonShow.com!
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