Your Country's Right Here: Crystal Bowersox Follows Her Heart

posted in: Country • Features

Crystal Bowersox was surrounded by boxes in her Chicago home as she chatted by telephone about the rollercoaster she’s been riding since she was the runner up on Season 9 of Fox television’s American Idol.

Packed and ready for a move to Nashville, the “Farmer’s Daughter” singer now juggles married life as the mom of an infant son, Tony, and a blossoming music career thanks in large part to her stellar performances on the show that won her praise from none other than the notoriously picky Simon Cowell.

“I’m always writing,” she said of her songwriting prowess. “The move to Nashville will just be an asset to me. I want to be there, able to access all of the talent there…and plus, our house will have a bigger back yard!”

The woman who grew up poor began shaping a music career even before she was in high school. The idea to super size her goals came about when she learned she was pregnant and wanted to “give my son everything I never had growing up.”

“I don’t really consider myself an ‘Idol’ contestant,” she said while acknowledging her gratitude to the show. “I was a performer starting at ten years old and I played gigs all over. When I found out I was pregnant, I was playing $100 gigs. I had to find a way to do what I loved and provide for my family.”

Although she’s been embraced by the country music community, Bowersox is ready to let her music muse guide her into whatever genre feels right.

“I love country and pop and rock and all kinds of things,” she said rattling off her favorite performers including Eric Church whose latest single “Homeboy” she deemed “really cool” and the New Jersey-based duo Hoots & Hellmouth.””It  used to be when I was a single lady living alone whenever the moment struck me I would write. Now I write down little phrases and lines and when it comes album time, I have all these notes. Sometimes, though, songs come from somewhere else and it could be pop or country or I don’t know.”

Although she’s looking forward to joining the Nashville music community and will likely consider co-writing, she said she is still warming to that process.

“The cowriting is a little awkward to me right now,” she said. “I have to find a middle ground. It’ll be a challenge and a fun process to get into. I’ll see what happens when I get into Nashville and [meet] new writers.”

For now, Bowersox is continuing to write and tour plus has some high-profile gigs around the corner including an August 15 benefit concert, “Lifting Lives,” with LeAnn Rimes Cibrian at Joe’s Bar in Chicago.

“I don’t want to just sit and make any kind of music; I want to make music that I love,” said Bowersox. “That is where my heart is.”

For more information about Crystal Bowersox and the “Lifting Lives” benefit, check her Web site.