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Today I'm in Nashville ready to sit down with one of Nashville's best new singer/songwriters, Natalie Wood. I met Natalie after the Fan Fair show to do an interview about her new career and life here and in Australia. Natalie comes in wearing a tan colored top, tight blue jeans, cowboy boots. Her blue eyes match the sky with long curly blond hair. What more could you want? She's what we call in the industry, "The Total Package". Let's begin...
Kelly Dunn: I listened to your cd, I think it's great!
Natalie Howard: Thank you, not bad for a first effort (laughs)
Kelly Dunn: I think it's a great first effort.
Natalie Howard: Some of the songs were written in Austrailia and the other half were written here in Nashville.
Kelly Dunn: What brought you to Nashville...
Natalie Howard: My mum and I took a girls' trip here a couple of years ago. We laugh because we told Dad that he gets the credit card bills and we get to shop and sing! (laughter)
My parents also have friends in Branson, Missouri. I was going to be a backup sing for Anita Bryant. There are all those theartre shows there. But Anita closed her theatre and I was crushed. Mum said we should take a bus to Nashville. So climbed we rode into town in a Greyhound bus. So I talked to a few songwriters, I went to some of the showcases. This latest all about a week! So, I went home to save money and come back here to live last year. The money doesn't go far! Also, I'm an "only-child" so it was a hard move but I really wanted to try songwriting. And I miss my mum doing all my ironing!
Kelly Dunn: Don't we all! (laughter)
Kelly Dunn: So what are you doing currently in Nashville?
Natalie Howard: The album you have was recorded in Queensland, Austraila by Michael Flanders. It took about year to record the album. He's not a well-known producer but he's great. He's more of an independant. My mum is really good mind at promoting so we released the song to Austrailian radio, just to see if there was a buzz, when we released it there were four songs. The first song didn't chart well but I got alot of encouragement from the radio station dj's. We got alot of great buzz for the first time out. That's basically how it my songwriting started. I sent some of the tracks to James Dean Hicks in Nashville. We started writing together. Our first song was, "I Don't Wanna Live Like That", which is the IMA (Independant Music Awards) Song of the Year this year! It's Country Song of the Year so it's a great little feather in my cap. James did some vocal tracks on the Austrailian release, "I Want Get Out", and the last track, "The Long Night". That song became my first number one song in Austraila on the Country channel. My fourth song on the cd is currently number four in Austrailia at this momement.
Kelly Dunn: Not a bad start for a first effort! You're following in the footsteps of Keith Urban.
Natalie Howard: Hopefully! (laughter)
Kelly Dunn: Any tour dates coming up?
Natalie Howard: Currently I'm a radio tour promoting the cd all around the States. I debuted with my band at Fan Fair in Nashville. I'll be at the Wild Horse Saloon for with Lorrie Morgan for Lymphatic Cancer Research. Next night I'll be doing an acoustic show at a coffee house called Caffiene. I'll be singing a deut with James Dean also! My parents are coming in on that week from Austrailia so I want to impress them! (laughter)
Kelly Dunn: Oh, I think they will be impressed!
Natalie Howard: Oh I hope so, it means so much to us...
Kelly Dunn: What' instruments do you play...
Natalie Howard: I mainly play an acoustic guitar for writing and performing at the acoustic showcases. I did a show for "Relay for Life" which a group for Cancer survivors. My mum is five years free of Cancer so I have to be part of this...
Kelly Dunn: What about your group, is that all settled?
Natalie Howard: Well, I'm still listening to different players here in Nashville! There are so many talent muscians here that it's hard to decide which one's to choose! (laughter)
Kelly Dunn: You'll never have a hard time finding a musician in Nashville!
Natalie Howard: That's what I have found to be true!
Kelly Dunn: How do the players in Austrailia compare to the players here?
Natalie Howard: Most players are located in Sidney or Melbourne. They have excellent players there too but there seemed to be the same twelve players you had to pick from! So, here in Nashville there is much more diversity and many more players here.
Kelly Dunn: Do you plan on hitting the road soon?
Natalie Howard: Not right at the moment but I do have a videio on JAC, and CAA whom are look into booking more engagements for me!
Kelly Dunn: How did the song, "The Long Night" come about...
Natalie Howard: That song is about the long distance between family. The nights seem longer when someone is more than a ten hour drive away. The song has struck a nerve with people, especially family members who have spouses and loved ones over in Iraq. Many people come up to me and tell me how much they are touched by that song. When I wrote the song with Tommy Lee James Dean and Terry McBride we were really thinking along those lines really. This song really wrote itself. We each seemed to just be adding one line and before we knew it we had it.
Kelly Dunn: Do you like to co-write?
Natalie Howard: Yes! Some people say it doesn't but it works for me. I really enjoy another person in the room with me. They are like a sounding board of my ideas and it's the same for them. Especially if I'm writing with the opposite sex, because they are of the other sex they can bring in an entire different dimension to the session. I never want to come off like I'm bashing the other sex. I can't think of any songs at the moment but I'm not about that. I've had some boys in my life that really hurt me and really broke my heart and I'd really like to jump on them but that's not what I want to get up and sing about every night.
Kelly Dunn: Your songs are really positive...
Natalie Howard: Thanks, like the song, "I Wnat To Get Out", that's written from experience. This guy didn't want to leave me alone, so I had a little bit of a stalking problem. Actually, I had to leave the country for awhile so I could figure out what I should do. My dad told me to get a Protection Order in case he hurts another girl in the future. Sure enough, later on, he did hurt another girl!
I'm not going to write about something I don't know about but write about things I have experienced.
Kelly Dunn: This is unbelieveable!
Natalie Howard: Yes, I heard they had a baby together and after they broke up he wanted custody of the baby and that's when some violent tendencies come out.
Kelly Dunn: You probably save her life...
Natalie Howard: Well, you just never know what people are like but my parents are really great and they let me be who I want to be. But there are times when they sit me down and gently tell me that maybe I should do this...(laughter) This song changed me. I was in a situation where I had broken up with this guy but I still wasn't out of it. So that's what is about, this little Hell that we are in together, whether I liked it or not he still had me in there, and there was a part of me that was playing along, you see alot of women that kind of a relationship, really torid affairs, that's where that song came from. Before I was a dreamer, a bit of a romantic, I have grown up alot since that time. I know now that it's not always safe out there.
Kelly Dunn: That's some experience
Natalie Howard: People come to my web site and tell me they are going throught the same thing. I really hate to hear that but in the end they know there's hope.
Kelly Dunn: This song has really brought people together with a positive outcome...
Natalie Howard: Thanks, and for the next cd I'll be writing more about my life experiences, I'm more mature. I'm still that kind of girl that looking for love and plus I've out on the deep end since I've moved to Nashville!
Kelly Dunn:
Natalie Howard: I have this overwhelming feeling that songwriting is really meant for me. Plus, I've made alot of friends, people that have written number one hits. But I feel like I'm in the right place.
Kelly Dunn: Is Austrailia pretty?
Natalie Howard: Oh yes! My parents live on the Gold Coast. It was just voted by the Discovery Channel as one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. I miss that ocean breeze...and I've never had allergies before moving to Nashville so this is something new for me! (laughing)
Kelly Dunn: Sounds like you are in it for the long haul...
Natalie Howard: When it's not fun anymore I don't have to do it! I'm not trying to be the next Brittany Spears or Shania Twain! But if I can keep being creative, having experiences, cutting songs, that's what I'm looking for. When I was in Key West I was in this cool little shop. I just happen to have one on me (laughing) and I went into the dressing room to try on these funky hippie jeans. The clerk put the cd on and it was playing loud! So these two girls walk in that were from the cruise ship. One of the girls saw the my cd cover on the counter. I could hear her talking to the other girls, I was ease-dropping on myself (laughing) and one of the girls said they saw my video and so the clerk said that she's in there trying on some jeans! So I walk out and we all had a good laugh! They were like, "It's really you! and she was all made up like a Christmas tree and she made me light up like a Christmas tree too! We hugged and took pictures and they got a cd. Celebrity is a good thing and hopefully I can do some good things.
Kelly Dunn: I'm sure you will!
Natalie Howard: I get alot of emails from Australia from fans that want to stay with me! (Laughing...)
Kelly Dunn: Well, I don't know about that! (laughing) Natalie, you've been great, I wish you all the luck and success in the world! Thanks for talking today with SongwriterPro.com!
Natalie Howard: It's been great Kelly, I love your website and I'll stop by the Chat Room one night! Talk again soon, ok?
Kelly Dunn: Ok, Thanks again!
Natalie Howard can be reached at: NatalieHoward.com
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