First Published in Country Music International – February,1999

Five years after her first hit single FAITH HILL is back with a dazzling new album after a creative absence that has yielded the same crossover success enjoyed by Shania, LeAnn and The Mavericks. "I wanted to make the best record I could possibly make," she tells Alan Cackett. 

Only three years into her career, Faith Hill seems to have solidly established herself in the front line of modern female country artists. Recognised as a strong woman of independance, it was an agonising three years between her multi-platinum second album, IT MATTERS TO ME, and her third album, FAITH, released in the States summer of 1998, and finally just issued in Britain. 

Taking that amount of time between albums is not unusual in pop and rock music, but in country it is tantamount to treason, and counted as being career-threatening. Yet it proved that good music of individuality and quality is well worth waiting for. The lesson for the Music Row shakers and makers is to let the artists off the hamster wheel and allow them to produce more phenomenal albums like FAITH and TRAMPOLINE. 

In both instances, the time spent creating music a little different from the norm has been proven to be commercially astute. Faith Hill has enjoyed country chart-topping success with her single, This Kiss, which also crossed over into American pop charts, earning the single a gold disc while propelling her album to platinum status. The single made a brief appearance in the British pop charts last November, joining a growing list of 1990s county stars to make that all-important UK pop breakthrough.

''Artistically, the greatest risk was taking that year off,'' she says, ''I was terrified at first—it's not something that you do in this business and survive. But I had to. I had gone through some personal things in my life, and they were all public knowledge. I just felt like I wasn't having anytime for myself. I needed to call a halt and re-evaluate, personally and musically, what I wanted to do in my life.'' 

Not only did Faith take time off from recording, she avoided the spotlight almost entirely after her surprise wedding to country star Tim McGraw and the birth of their first baby, Gracie. She and Tim are known as the first couple of country music. It is a high-profile existence and one that she knows demands spotlight, publicity and hype. 

''I never want a huge ego,'' she exclaims. ''i like the publicity and being in the public eye, but I always remember that it makes no difference who you are, you're no better than the next person beside you. I believe in treating everybody equally. If you can't do that, then who are you?'' 

Prior to her relationship with McGraw, which blossomed during a 140-date tour during the summer of 1996, Faith had had a well-published fling with her producer Scott Hendricks. Less than a year before she and McGraw got together, there was much talk on Music Row about an impending Hendricks-Hill marriage. Faith publicly stated at the time that it was only because the pair of them were so busy with their respective careers that they had not tied the knot. 

Not only was Hendricks an in-demand producer, but he also took over from Jimmy Bowen as head of Capitol-Nashville. It proved a difficult and challenging role, especially when the highly successfull producer crossed swords with Garth Brooks. It was Brooks who ended up the victor, and Hendricks was publicly moved sideways in the EMI hierarchy to head-up the new Virgin-Nashville label. 

There's little doubt that, with Hill constantly out on the road and with Hendricks’ mind elsewhere battling label politics, their relationship was doomed to disintegrate. Hill had already undergone one disastrous marriage and had made it perfectly clear that a second marriage for her had to be for keeps. The shakiness of her not only breaking-off their engagement, but also ending their studio association, that had led to her first two albums accumulating sales in excess of five million.

''There were so many things going on that I just wasn't feeling creative anymore,'' says Faith, ''I felt I was in a place in my life where I wasn't saying what i wanted musically. I felt really stagnant. I went to work with different producers.'' 

Turning your back on a successful and commercial partnership is never easy, but having undergone so many personal changes in her life, Faith was convinced that the timing was right to make those changes. By the time she was ready to go into the studio, she had become a wife and a mother with a completely different outlook on life that she felt she needed to be reflected in her music.

 ''I had been out the road for four years and had decided to take a break between albums,'' she explains, ''I wanted to make some production changes and needed some time to live and get inspired. I wanted to sit down and think about how to make the best record I could possibly make.'' 

Co-produced with Dann Huff and Bryon Gallimore, the recordings began as an experiment to see how things would turn out. With more time on her hands, the singer had the luxury of embarking upon an intense song search. As a singer who does not write, she drew upon leading writers both in and outside Nashville, from Beth Nielsen Chapman to Matraca Berg, Gretchen Peters to Diane Warren, and from Bekka Bramlett to Harry Stinson and even sheryl Crow. 

''It really came together,'' she enthuses, ''I recorded something like 28 songs. I had to not be afraid to dig deep within myself and pull out this person that's in there musically. I do it in my show every single night, but for some reason I had never done it on record. This is the best musical experience I've ever had.'' 

On her two previous albums there was an over-abundance of sad-edged songs. A great lover of ballads, she concentrated on Tammy Wynette-styled heartbreakers like It Matters To Me, I Can't Do This Anymore and A Man's home Is His Castle. This time there are a lot more positive songs, because as Faith says, she would have found it hard to sing about somethings sad and then go home to where she found complete happiness.

''I really think this album shows a little of where I am right now in my mind, and what I'm feeling,'' she says, ''this probably comes through in the songs. It's tough to know what I'm going to like, it's really what's appealing to me when i hear them. But I got really lucky whith this album, and some of the songs on there. They are very strong songs, and I enjoy doing them in my shows.''

Since completing the long-awaited album, Faith has delivered a second daughter, Maggie Elizabeth, born in August of 1998, just after the happy couple completed a three-month stadium tour with George Strait, and only a month before they set out for another round of tour dates.

''In my music you live a very hectic lifestyle, but when you have a baby it changes your whole perspective,'' she beams, ''we are both totally dedicated to our careers, but the children come first. Motherhood is unbelievable. I feel more complete, more of a woman than at any time in life. I just love every aspect of being a wife and a mother.''

One of the hottest female country artists around, Faith is very much aware of keeping her career and private life in perspective. She comes across as secure and confident with her fame, but never aloof, and wants to live as normal a life as is possible for a person constantly caught in the public eye. She is also determined to keep her children grounded as they grow up. "I think all children are gifts," she says, "and I want as much of a normal family life for my children as I had growing up. I want to teach them the simple things of life. Although they are going to have a luxury life, I want them to go to school and be normal, or at least as normal as they can be."

When she first arrived in Nashville, Faith had no family and neighbours to lean on. She was a teenager, alone in a big city with just her childhood dreams to sustain her. She was reduced to living on macaroni cheese as she tramped the streets of Music City trying to land a job as a singer. From an early age her parents had allowed her to explore and find out about life for herself. But they were always there for her, and even today she still relies on her mom and the rest of her family to keep her feet on the ground.

"Without the support of my family, I wouldn't be where I am today." she says. "They gave me the grounding, instilled in me the basic fact that you don't get anything in this life if you don't work for it. But they were always there for me. I could phone them anytime when things got too difficult and still do today. I believe that all families need that kind of support system. That's the kind of upbringing that I want for my kids.”

She readily admits to having made some wrong decisions, the biggest being her first marriage. She was just 19 when, alone in a strange city, she fell in love with a good-looking, smart, sweet guy, even though her mother predicted that the relationship was doomed. Six years later, at the time of the release of her first album, Faith was wading through the murky waters of divorce.

"I guess mothers always know best," she says. "As soon as she met Tim, her whole face lit-up and I knew that she was so happy for me. I have learnt from my previous relationships that quality time together is really important. We've always tried to make that time for each other, but it can be very hard when you both have successful careers."

Somehow Faith has remained true to her small-town roots and held onto her dreams. Unlike many of the modern-day country music superstars, she has not been coached in how to be a star, and still has control over what she wears, how she does her hair and what she says.

"From the beginning of my career I had to learn to say no,” she says. "In this business you can be pulled every-which-way, and I have always resisted being told what to do. I love to work for my career, it's important to me, but if you're not careful, you can end up doing too much because you don't say: 'Hey, hold on, I need a little space here.'”

"The actual performance is only a small part of it,”' she continues. "You have to completely change your style of living. You get out there and you're travelling around, trying to get used to the bus, and at the same time you're not even in a city five minutes before you have to be at the radio station. It can be non-stop, and that's not good for anyone."

Faith Hill has achieved country-pop crossover success without really trying, maturing over five years to evolve into a multi-faceted vocalist who stands head-and-shoulders alongside any major pop, soul or country diva.

"My first record came out when I was 25," she concludes. "A lot has happened in my life since then. I've gone through a lot of changes and feel like a different person. I'm completely invigorated and ready to get out there and show people the new Faith Hill."