Gretchen Wilson |
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Thu. June 03.2004 12:00 AM EDT |
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Gretchen Wilson: Tough Girl Tops the Country ChartsCountry's red hot redneck talks about being a bartender at the age of 15, and stripping in front of the washing machine. by CMT's Craig Shelburne |
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(Epic Nashville) |
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Is there anybody who hasn't heard GretchenWilson's "Redneck Woman"? It has been rip-roaring up the country charts for less than two months but has already emerged as one of the year's smash hits. How can you tell? Her Here For the Party
The 30-year-old Wilson recently invited CMT (Country Music Television) aboard her tour bus to talk about the washing machine scene in her video, the consortium of songwriters and musicians known as the Muzik Mafia, and being recognized as the "Redneck Woman." CMT: Where did you film the video for "Redneck Woman"? Wilson: One of the members of the Muzik Mafia - Pino, the Italian immigrant bongo player - has a club close to [Nashville's] Music Row, and he let us use his building for the first day. And the second day of shooting we did at Fontanel in Whites Creek, which is Barbara Mandrell's old home. CMT: What was impressive about making that video? GW: I'd have to say it would be the trailer scene with Bobby [Kid Rock] and Hank [Williams Jr.]. That was really the first time I got to hang with Hank for a little while and talk to him. He's a riot. He's a lot of fun. CMT: Was it your idea to take off the shirt and throw it into the laundry? GW: Actually that scene is supposed to be about the washing machine. I know it's not, but ... [laughs]. When the director and I were all discussing all this in the beginning, I'd written it in because it's just something that I've done in the past, and I always thought it was pretty funny. When you're at the end of a long day, and you're running around, and you're gathering up the kids' clothes and the old man's clothes, and you're getting everything together, and you get to the washing machine, and you're throwing it all in, you realize, "I'm about to jump into the shower, so I may as well wash this stuff, too." That's the way it was supposed to come out, you know. [laughs] CMT: How often are you recognized on the street now? GW: Not too bad. It's really not too bad. I don't mind it actually. I still go to Wal-Mart kinda looking pretty shabby [laughs] ... so I'm really hoping that I don't run into any fans there. I guess once the record's on the shelf there, I might have to be a little more careful. [laughs] Be standing over there looking at my own record and somebody going, "Wait a minute." I know I've been told that I look a lot like her, but ... CMT: Listening to "Redneck Woman," I have to ask ... what's your favorite Charlie Daniels song? GW: Everybody would probably say "Devil Went Down to Georgia," but I think my favorite is probably "In America." CMT: At least until you get a few more hits, I have a feeling you'll be known as "The Redneck Woman." Are you OK with that, or are you worried that maybe they're going to miss the rest of the stuff on your record? GW: No, I'm not worried. I think we put a great record together, and I like the record. I was hoping to put a record together that was something that I would want to go buy. And I think there's a lot of stories on that record, and there's a lot of different attitudes on that record, and it's definitely all me. But no, I don't think they're going to miss anything. I think it's all right there. CMT: One song I really liked a lot was "Chariot," but I must say I was stunned a little bit by the rap in the middle of it because I wasn't expecting it. Did you have to practice that one a lot, or did that just come naturally once you got into that point of the song? GW: No, it just kind of came out. I listen to all different kinds of music, and for me it's just a different way of singing. It's just more of an attitude, talking-in-time thing for me. I wouldn't consider myself to be a rapper. I have to be honest: I was a little bit hesitant about doing it. I mean, I think I made the comment that, "Oh, I'm going to be known as the redneck rapping woman." But actually I like the way it came out, the way they put some little effects and stuff on the vocal and the way they moved it back and forth from the left to the right. It's really kind of neat. CMT: At the Muzik Mafia, you get the chance to sing some edgier country music. Do your audiences there accept everything that you play, no matter the style? GW: Absolutely. Good music is good music. ... I grew up listening to Tanya [Tucker] and Hank [Williams] and Merle [Haggard] and all that kind of stuff. But at the same time, I was listening to Skynyrd and AC/DC. ... Today, if you were to look at my CD collection, it might scare some people. [laughs] It just depends on what mood you're in. I think music can heal your soul if you'll let it. It can also bring you up if you're down. It can also bring you down if you're too up. It's a mood thing. I think everybody should like all different kinds of music. It should be what you like, not what it's classified as. CMT: Is it hard to find a balance between what you have in your head and what Nashville expects you to be? GW: No. I mean, I think I was born to be a country singer. I think that regardless of what the tracks do or regardless of ... where the music goes, my liking it's always going to be country when it's all said and done. I mean, even "Chariot" says "redneck" in it. I mean, come on! [laughs] CMT: Do people say, "You're from Illinois. You can't be a redneck"? GW: That's when I tell them, "You can come home with me sometime. ... [laughs] Look around." CMT: What were the circumstances that led you to start working as a bartender when you were 15? GW: Well, one thing is we needed money, and I started singing. My mom was always with me at all these things. My mom was already working for [the bar] Big O, so I initially came in and started singing my little karaoke thing and then graduated into picking up the plates after the lunch crowd came in and helping my mom in the back with the dishes. And then pretty soon before you knew it, I was covering for her an hour here, an hour there. It was one of those things that everybody knows everybody around there. It might sound ridiculous to some people to think that a kid would be in there handling something like that. You know, if I was behind the bar, I knew every single person sitting at that bar, and I knew their moms, and I knew their wives, and if they caused me any trouble, I'd get them in trouble. [laughs] So it was one of those things. I don't feel like I was ever in any danger. CMT: Is there any difference between a small-town barfly and a big-town barfly? GW: No, just one's wearing a suit, and one's wearing overalls. There's a big difference in working behind a bar in a city like this as opposed to [back there]. I think the most difficult drink I ever made up there was a Jack and Coke. I moved down here, and they're asking for Mai Tais and one of those drinks was called an Eight-Liquor Ass-Kicker. I had to have a Rolodex with drinks on them, just trying to figure out everything was. I walked in and applied for the job acting like I'd bartended. "I've been bartending all my life." I had to have the job. So I was telling them all kinds of lies like, "Well, I can handle this. There's nothing to it. I've been bartending since I was 15 years old." I had to struggle for the first few nights. I think I made a lot of wrong drinks for the first few nights and took my Rolodex home and studied. CMT: As a bartender, you probably see a lot of people develop drinking problems. How have you personally avoided that situation, being in the bar for a lot of your life? GW: I think that growing up early like I did and being around in the bars and stuff, I was a firsthand witness to a lot of things. You can learn from other people's mistakes, and you can be a silent eyewitness to a lot of catastrophes and things that go wrong and watch alcohol be the reason behind 90 percent of it. And secondly, any wildness that I did have certainly came to an end when I had my little girl. I mean, it gives you an entirely different outlook on life. Going out and having a couple of drinks is always fun, but hangovers and 3-year-olds aren't. [laughs] CMT: What's your ultimate goal in your career? GW: I can't sit here and tell you, "My goal is to make lots of money and retire on a private yacht in the ocean," because what I want to do is just keep doing this as long as I can. I've been doing this my whole life and this is home. ... I mean, not this. [Looking around her bus] This is new to me, but the whole performance thing and songwriting and studio stuff is home for me. That's what I love to do. So as long as time will allow me to do it, that's what I want to do. CMT: Is there anything else you want readers to know about you? GW: I just want to make sure that they hear me say, "Thank you." I've been keeping up and reading some of the chat room stuff, and I've been itching to post something on there and they keep saying, "Oh no, no, just let them talk a little bit." But I'm e-mailing my manager in the middle of the night saying, "C'mon, c'mon. I'll make it anonymous. Let me put something." And, "Oh no, no, just let it go. We'll figure out a time for that, and you can just say something, and we'll work it out" CMT: So what do you want to say? GW: Oh, I just want to say thank you. There are friends and family out there that are on there all the time, and I think they take things to heart too much. And they get on there and they'll start yelling and screaming at somebody, "I don't know if you know what you're talking about, but where I come from you can hang a Kid Rock poster next to a ..." I'm sitting there reading all this stuff, and I don't want my family and friends to be upset by things that other people say, because, you know, everybody has an opinion, and I'm enjoying hearing them all really. Reprinted from CMT.com |
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