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Hillbilly Country. This is how Danni Leigh refers to her music. "Hillbilly country likes to rock a little bit," says Leigh. She has been dubbed by some as the "Female Dwight Yoakum," and Leigh takes that as a compliment. While being honored at the comparison, she feels that the hats and shared love of musical style is as far as the comparison goes. "We are uniquely different in performance styles and our albums are musically different."
Danni Leigh was born on February 9, 1970 in Strasburg, VA, just minutes from Patsy Cline's hometown of Winchester, VA. To say that Leigh grew up around country music is putting it mildly. Her whole family was musical and at the age of three, after performing in her pre-school church choir, Danni told her parents that singing was what she wanted to do when she grew up. Her first job was at a record store and this opened the door to many other musical genres. At the age of 19, Leigh moved to Orlando where she had the opportunity to sing backup with various rock, ska and funk bands. She sang with Foreigner, Artemus Pyle's (formerly of Lynyrd Skynyrd) APB, and The Fenwicks. Her initial intentions were to get a job singing at Disney World. After trying out for the cast, she decided that it wasn't for her. To pay the bills, Leigh held various jobs in Orlando ranging from bungee jumping instructor to warehouse worker. She always knew that country music was what she wanted to do and it was this job with Federal Express which afforded her the opportunity to move to Nashville in October 1993. After moving to Nashville, Leigh kept a low profile. "Instead of coming in thinking I knew it all, I shut up and I listened," Leigh says. She held several different jobs including caretaker for Tom T. Hall's animals and waitressing at The Bluebird Cafe. It was at the Bluebird Cafe that she learned the most from listening to the artists who've been through it all in this business. One of Leigh's regular customers was Michael Knox, Vice President of Warner Chappell Publishing's Creative Services. Leigh and Knox, son of Rockabilly Hall of Famer Buddy Knox, became friends and later realized that they had a common bond in music. Knox signed Danni to her first recording contract with Decca Records - ironically, the same label that Patsy Cline recorded on. On October 20, 1998, Leigh released her debut album, "29 Nights," in which she co-wrote 7 of the 11 songs. Leigh offers a range of stylings from Countrypolitan to Bakersfield to Rockabilly. Listening to this album makes you feel like you've taken a journey in a time machine back to when country music was still twangy. A touch of Merle? Well, he co-wrote the fun uptempo tune "Mixed Up Mess Of A Heart." We move from Merle to classic Patsy Cline with "Touch Me," penned by Willie Nelson, who also wrote "Crazy" for Cline. "We definitely put that on there to pay tribute to great traditional country music written lyrically, melodically," says Leigh. "That's not synthesized strings or anything. That's a 15-piece orchestra sitting in the studio doing that." For a touch of Rockabilly, take a listen to "Chain Me." You can actually feel the train gaining speed on this great song. This whole album is a great blend of slow and upbeat tunes cleverly arranged to keep the listener avidly entertained and tapping the boot. Tragically, before this album could even get off the ground, Decca closed their doors on January 21, 1999, just one week before the scheduled radio release of the title track. The video for "29 Nights" was already filmed and released to CMT. The single was due to be released to radio on January 28. While, MCA picked up most of Decca's contracts, they did not welcome Leigh to their family. Without a label to support the release, the album didn't get a fair shot. In the meantime, Leigh's songwriting skills produced a top 10 hit for Tracy Byrd with "I Want To Feel That Way Again." Leigh co-wrote the song with Jeff Stevens and Steve Bogard. "There are some songs I sing that just don't work. I think it comes from being so styled in one vein." She adds, "I was extremely excited about the success of that single. As a songwriter, I think the greatest praise you can get is when another artist cuts a song you had a part in writing. To see it receive overwhelming response from the public and achieve top 10 chart success, is even sweeter praise." Leigh wasn't without a label for long. She signed with Monument Records, a division of Sony, on April 21, 1999. She recorded her latest release, "A Shot Of Whiskey & A Prayer," in which she co-wrote 3 of the 11 songs. When asked about having only three of her own songs on the album, Leigh responded, "I got pitched some incredible songs that I wanted to record, so those songs won out." If you like your music "too country," then this album is definitely for you. From the fiddle to the steel guitar to the gritty, honky-tonk vocals, this album is a country lovers delight. Listening to this album makes you feel like you're in a bar with beer in hand and money well-spent on the jukebox. You can almost smell the sawdust on the floor and hear the 45's flipping as the songs switch over on the jukebox. When she played at Buck Owens' birthday bash at his club in Bakersfield, CA, Owens told her that if she keeps it country, she'll make him proud. Well, Buck must surely be proud of Leigh after hearing this latest album. She sure has kept it country. There are some great songs on this album. Leigh sure knows how to pick them. There are true classics on this album. Too bad they won't be heard on the radio. This is what true country music is all about. She certainly fulfills her "Hillbilly Country" image on this CD. The credits on this album read like a Who's Who of Nashville's young up-and-coming songwriters; Kevin Welch, Charlie Robison and Leslie Satcher to name a few. "Shiver Of Lonesome," written by Leslie Satcher and Wynn Varble, has a very Southwestern, Marty Robbins-type feel to it. "When I heard the song, it put me in a hypnotic state," says Leigh. "It was undeniable that I had to have this song on my record." Kevin Welch contributed "Wha t'cha Gonna Do" and we can thank Charlie Robison for the sassy "I Don't Feel That Way Anymore." We're lucky to have access to this great album, because it was almost never released. After several postponed release dates, Monument terminated Leigh's contract. There was to be no release of this new album. Finally, they released it anyway on February 13, 2001, but with no promotion effort. This is almost one full year after the March 17, 2000 release of the album's first single, "Honey I Do." Even without the support of Monument, the album was Amazon.com's #5 best-selling album in the United Kingdom and #6 in the Netherlands. It is unfortunate that another great album by such a remarkable talent will go unheralded, yet again. However, Leigh still triumphs. Even without a hit record and the support of her label, Leigh still earned two nominations for the TNN/Country Weekly Music Awards' Female Vocalist of the Year and Discovery Award categories. While she didn't make the final cut for these awards, the recognition is still there. What does the future hold for Leigh? Right now, she is touring with various artists such as Tracy Lawrence, Aaron Tippin, Chalee Tennison, Sonya Isaacs and George Jones. She even has some international tour dates scheduled with stops in Italy, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Canada, Poland, France, Sweden, Japan, and three USO shows in Kosovo and Macedonia. Leigh has already experienced international success. In May 1999, she played in front of 40,000 screaming Brazilian fans at the Vale Rodeio in Sao Jose dos Campos, located outside Sao Paulo. She was part of the event sponsored by CMT International and Brazil's National Rodeo Federation. Her video for "If The Jukebox Took Teardrops" spent several weeks at number one on CMT International's Top Twelve Video Countdown. Leigh was well received in Brazil and feels quite at home there. "My first trip to Brazil was great; I developed a real fondness for the country and its people," reports Leigh. "But, with the second visit, I realized that Brazil is definitely a place that I feel at home! The vibrancy of Brazil and its people can never be captured in photos. The universal love of country music is important to me." As for new music, we are in luck. It was recently announced that Leigh will be a label-mate with Loretta Lynn. She signed with Audium Records on March 6, 2001. Nick Hunter, President and CEO of Audium had this to say about signing Danni Leigh: "We are thrilled to have Danni on Audium, we want her to make 'a real Danni Leigh album' and will support her to the very end." Leigh will be heading to Los Angeles in a few weeks to begin work on the new album. She will be working with producer Pete Anderson, who has worked with Dwight Yoakum and Sara Evans. When asked about working with Anderson, Leigh states, "I can hardly wait to get into the studio and hear the new music that we are going to make together." If all goes according to plan, Audium hopes to release their new CD in September of this year. When you pop "A Shot of Whiskey & A Prayer" into your CD player, you won't be hearing the pop-country sound on a single track. And that's very refreshing these days. Leigh admits that she doesn't listen to pop music, but does feel that "it's great to pull children into listening to what they're calling the 'New Country Music.' What it does is it insures a future for country music only as long as WE DON'T FORGET WHERE WE CAME FROM. And that's the only part that scares me." When asked if she would consider crossing over to pop, her response was simply, "I want my music played on Country music radio." Leigh certainly doesn't beat around the bush nor is she afraid to say what she thinks or feels. In a recent online chat, Leigh was asked how she feels about female artists using their sexuality to sell their music and if she thinks that sexuality is a big part of making a female artist successful. Leigh's response: "No. If it is, I would wish it away. There is absolutely nothing wrong with being proud of being a beautiful person. But to me, it's got to be the talent that makes you become a huge success, or stay on top, or be commended for your music. I hope." Well, Danni, we hope so, too. After all, it is about the music, isn't it? And great music is what you'll find from this young lady. At the age of 31, Danni Leigh is definitely going places. Her zest for life and boisterous attitude certainly proves that you can't keep a good woman down. We look forward to seeing what the future holds for Danni and wish her the best in her career and life. Visit Danni's Official Website. Look for Danni Leigh's music at CDNow Other TCB articles about Danni Leigh:  April 2001 - Sherry Anderson - |