EP62 Heidi Newfield

A good-timing, honky-tonkin’, band-leading, song-writing, love-song-singing, blues-harp-blowing, tradition-nurturing, genre-busting, crowd-carrying, full-hearted flag bearer for all that’s true about music. That’s Heidi Newfield. And on her new solo album The Barfly Sessions — recorded without heed to music business convention — she’s finally captured her full range. “No one was telling me what to do,” Newfield says. “No one put me in a box. Anyone asking me, what is the new music like? Ummmmm, it’s like me!” After recording three albums while fronting Trick Pony, charting eight singles and branching out for her first solo project with the platinum-certified smash “Johnny & June,” Newfield knows her way around a studio … and a stage. A bold stylist and true entertainer, she greets peers and fans alike with her small frame, big voice, friendly smile and a hug. Sharp and well read, she knows herself and her audience. She could be voted most likely to not give a damn about anything but the music by a stunning collection of collaborators and co-writers: Al Anderson, Randy Houser, Jim Lauderdale, Delbert McClinton, Jon Randall, Mickey Raphael, Rivers Rutherford, Leslie Satcher, Chris Stapleton, Matt King and Kenny Vaughan.