Lee Ann Womack Bringing Traditional Country to Paramount Stage

ST. CLOUD -- Country music's Lee Ann Womack will be performing in downtown St. Cloud next month. She is the featured singer for this year's Autumn Moon fundraiser for the Paramount Center for the Arts.

Womack says the show will include a mix of her big hits as well as songs from her most recent albums, all of which have the traditional country sound that people love.

We can always pull out our old records, and I do all the time, I love George Jones and Merle Haggard and all the traditional country music artists, but I think people miss having new records coming from the real country music genre, and I'm glad they do because that's what I like to do.

Womack recorded her most recent album "The Lonely, the Lonesome & the Gone" in Houston instead of in Nashville in an effort to get back to focusing on the music.

In Nashville, it's such a big business and everybody's thinking about numbers, it almost becomes music made by algorithms.

Back in the year 2000, Womack's smash hit "I Hope You Dance" was being played all over. I reached #1 on the Billboard Country Chart and the Top 15 of the Billboard Hot 100. It was also the Country Music Association's song of the year and single of the year.

Womack says she's not exactly sure what it is about the song that has resonated so well with people, but she's happy it has.

When I first heard the song it made me think about my girls, and I think it makes people think of people that they love and are important to them.

Womack says event though she considers herself to be a traditional country music singer, she's proud of the fact that the song crossed over onto the pop music charts.

I am, especially because I wasn't trying to do that, and I think that's the testament of a great song.

Womack says these days she enjoys performing in more intimate settings like the Paramount Theatre that are built to play music.

She says she has started touring more again now that her two daughters are grown.

Womack released her first album in 1997. She has won six CMA Awards, five ACM Awards, and one Grammy.

The Autumn Moon fundraiser is on Friday, September 27th and includes a social hour, dinner, and reception before Womack's performance.