Chely Wright

Chely Wright is old-fashioned - and proud of it.

"I never had a drop of alcohol until I was of legal age," says the 29-year-old country singer-songwriter. "I have never smoked a cigarette."

You will not find her in a bar unless it is one she is performing in.

Her music, too, is grounded in the hallowed, Opryland tradition - Loretta Lynn is a friend and heroine; Porter Waggoner a mentor.

"I was on the road with him in the early 1990s," recalls Wright. "I learned a lot about performing. All of those Opry stars, they are the ones who make country music as down-home and as warm and fuzzy as it is. I do not think you can ever get that out of me.

"I hope not."

The Kansas City-born Wright, blessed with a robust, smooth-as-honey voice and the requisite country-music sentimental streak, is able to be warm and fuzzy with the best of them. But she is no stranger to a little attitude in her songwriting, and hers are lyrics that have empowered as well as inspired the women in her growing fan base.

"A lot of women approach me, in grocery stores, restaurants, autograph lines ... they will grab my hand and tell me, Your song "Shut Up and Drive" (Her first Top-10 hit, from her 1997 album Let Me In) really got me through a tough time. I get young girls who are in college saying, You tell em, girl!

"There is a lot of the same face on the women of America today," reflects Wright. "Tradition has kind of gone by the wayside. It is not uncommon for a woman to be on her fourth marriage or for a 40-year-old woman to have never been married because she is disillusioned with the institution of marriage."

Wright has perhaps never spoken to these women as eloquently as she did on the single "Single White Female," an album that has spawned two smash singles (including the musical personal ad of a title track) that have been on the charts for 59 weeks.

"For whatever reason," Wright says humbly, "women are liking these songs.

"But the great thing is that men like the music as well."

"Single White Female" was widely interpreted as Wright getting more deeply in touch with her emotions. (The album touched not only on the slings and arrows of romance, but also on loneliness, her parents divorce and her faith.) Wright says this introspection was nothing new for her.

"When you feel emotionally connected to a song, it`s just like breathing. You just inherently know what it is talking about."

As to what makes a song right for Wright, her response is typically candid: "I wish I knew."

"Music and songs are so enigmatic - they are the elusive ghosts that we are all chasing," she says. "Maybe it is a certain word or a certain perspective or a weird chord that I love. It is almost physiological."

But that very mystery is life-affirming for her.

"Sometimes I wake up at 3 in the morning with a melody running through my head," Wright says. "I am not above stealing from my friends pain. Again, there is no formula. I just love the uncertainty and the infinite parameters of country songwriting or just songwriting period."

She likens her development as a songwriter to friend Brett Favres development as an All-Pro NFL quarterback.

"You have got to have that instinct," she says.

Her instincts about her songs - and herself - are right on the nose. You can tell in her singing, and you can tell by just listening to her, too:

"I like myself. I think I am doing a good job at being me. I have always been real confident and secure in who I am. I was blessed with a good set of standards at home. But I think I am liking myself more now than I ever have."

(c) Copley News Service

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Author: David L. Coddon