Holly Dunn
For Life and Love and All the Stages, her eighth album, Holly Dunn turned back the clock, "I wanted to get back to who I was and when I first moved to Nashville," says the San Antonio native, "a songwriter and an aspiring singer and that's what I did."
Life and Love and All the Stages is Holly's first for River North Nashville. It arrives, much anticipated by her fans, nearly three years after Getting It Dunn, her farewell to the Warner Brothers label. There was a reason for the long wait, Holly explains.
"I felt like I had lost my focus, musically, on the last album," she says. "So I decided to gamble and take some time off and just write songs."
"This album, to me, is what has come out of that time off. Centering myself, focusing myself again."
As the title suggests, the 10 new songs on Life and Love and All the Stages cover all the emotional bases. The common denominator is Holly's shimmering, multi-hued singing -- and her precise turn of phrase, both lyrically and musically.
"It is truly much more of a 'songwriter' album than any I've had," Holly comments. "I've written all but one song on the project, and my brother wrote that one. So I feel like I've kind of come home again, musically." Holly's brother and longtime collaborator, Chris Waters helped arrange the new songs, and the album's background vocals. "I feel like this album is me finding my way back to the music," adds Holly.
It was as a songwriter that Holly Dunn first made her mark in country music; her compositions were turned into hits by the likes of Cristy Lane, Louise Mandrell and the Whites.
Holly herself has scored four Number One hits ("Love Someone Like Me," "Only When I Love," "Are You Ever Gonna Love Me" and "You Really Had Me Going") and 10 Top Ten singles.
She was named the Academy of Country Music's Top New Female Vocalist in 1986, and won the Country Music Association's coveted Horizon Award the following year. BMI named Holly Country Songwriter of the Year in 1988.
Along the way came three Grammy nominations, including one for her 1988 duet with Michael Martin Murphey, "A Face In The Crowd."
Although she left the recording studio in '92, Holly never stopped touring. At every stop on the road, fans would ask her when she was going to make another album.
"That really had a lot to do with me wanting to go through everything again," Holly says. "I can't think of another job that just puts you through the wringer and spits you out the other side. The first time you do it, you go in with blinders on; the second time, your eyes are wide open. Hopefully."
"It was a decision, a conscious choice: Do I really want to climb this mountain again? I could think, 'Well, I've had my 15 minutes. I'm very fortunate. I'm grateful, wasn't that enough?"
At that very moment, River North President Joe Thomas, a longtime fan, approached Holly about being the flagship artist on his new River North Nashville label. Thomas co-produced Life and Love and All the Stages with Holly.
"He really gave me a lot of creative license and free reign to produce the record the way I thought it needed to be," Holly recalls. "And he added a lot to it, because of his pop mentality and orientation."
The first single is the up-tempo and radio-ready "I Am Who I Am." It is, according to Holly, one woman's declaration of independence.
"I felt for a while -- like everyone else does at some point -- that I was sort of living someone else's life," she explains.
"I think this is my coming of age song, where I'm not changing for anybody else anymore, do or die, sink or swim, pass or fail."
The album is well-stocked with the kind of Clearwater ballads that Holly Dunn is famous for ("The Wonder of Love," "I'd Know That Heartache Anywhere") and the boot-scootin' boogies that make her live shows so special ("Rock-A-Billy," "Cowboys Are My Weakness").
There are powerful statements about sexual politics ("It's Not About Blame"), the euphoria of romance, ("Lovin' Every Minute") heartbreak ("1001 Ways"), and isolation ("Love Across The Line").
Of "Love Across The Line," Holly says, "It's my life, in a way. It's the other side of the road, after the lights go out. When you're back on the bus, and it's pouring rain, and you're lonely and missing your loved ones. And you have to rely on the phone or letters to keep in touch."
It's one of her personal favorites on the album. Holly says, "There's a large part of me in everything I write -- either me, or someone that I care about, or something that I've seen up close and personal."
Holly Dunn is hitting the road, and hitting it hard, to support Life and Love and All the Stages. After taking a step back to re-assess the canvas, she is an artist who is truly proud of her art.
"I feel like I'm back to square one as a writer and a singer," she says. "And I know everybody always says this about every album they put out, but honest to goodness, this really is some of the best material I've ever been involved with."
Previous Bio Information Follows
After walking away from recording country music three years ago, Holly Dunn made an amazing comeback this year with I Am Who I Am. Dunn, 37, had felt beaten up by the country music business, even though she hit the No. 1 spot four times and recorded the Father's Day favorite, Daddy's Hands.
Now, in her comeback effort, Dunn bounces back with a mostly self-composed disc that figures prominently in her show. "I really wanted this album to be me. I wanted to recapture the enthusiasm that I used to have for my music when I first started out. I feel like I did," she said.
Her string of hits includes:
A Face In The Crowd (with Michael Martin Murphey)
Love Someone Like Me
Only When I Love
Strangers Again
That's What Your Love Does To Me
There Goes My Heart Again
Are You Ever Gonna Love Me
You Really Had Me Going
As Long As You Belong To Me
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