Your Country's Right Here: Sonia Leigh Rocks Country with Old School Style
posted in: Country • Music News
There’s something about Sonia Leigh that tells you she’s the real deal in country music.
Perhaps it’s the way she sprinkles her conversations with grateful references to those that have helped her in the music business. Maybe it’s the thoughtfulness with which she discusses her songwriting. It’s not that Leigh, the first artist to sign with Zac Brown‘s Southern Ground Artists’ label, is anything but modern. But she radiates a sincerity that you won’t find in many young artists.
“You just said the magic word,” said Leigh, whose first Southern Ground recording 1978 December was released last month, when England is mentioned. “That is my dream. That is what I want to do. I want to tour in the UK, London. That is something I have wanted to do my entire life. That’s a big goal for me.”
As Leigh spoke, she immediately reached for her PDA and sent a message to her booking agent to
research a certain UK-based festival she may want to play. That kind of tenacity is what propelled Leigh to leave home on New Year’s Day, just over two weeks before her she turned seventeen with $50, her guitar and a garbage bag full of clothes. She found a band, three jobs and an opportunity to record an album all within the first year. Is it any wonder she’s shooting for stardom?
“I had a feeling [in] my heart that was what I needed to do,” she said of pursuing music at such a young age, adding that she doesn’t limit herself on formats adding rock, blues and more to her signature sound. “Country has always been the foundation of who I am.”
John Driskell Hopkins, a long-time collaborator of Brown’s, said that you can feel Leigh’s dauntlessness in her songwriting. Hopkins co-produced Leigh’s latest album, on which she penned every song except two she co-wrote with Brown, and produced an earlier independent album Run or Surrender.
“I don’t want to compare her with other artists but what she brings is something some artists don’t,” he said. “She an incredible writer and a great singer and an accomplished instrumentalist. [That combines to allow] her to paint great pictures with her music. She deserves every bit of recognition she gets as an artist. She has earned what is coming her way. We couldn’t be prouder of her as both a writer and a singer.”
In a way, she was almost born with those artistic leanings. Her father’s love of country music drove a young Leigh to play guitar. Her dad taught her a few chords and she became very serious about learning to play at about age ten.
“When he wanted to play his guitar, he couldn’t,” she said. “I would be in my room playing it. He saw I was real serious and bought me the harmony guitar.”
About seven years ago, fate took her to Zac’s Place, the restaurant in Lake Oconee, Georgia that Brown opened and ran with his father. The restaurant was not only the main venue of the fledgling Zac Brown Band, but spotlighted other musicians.
Soon after Leigh played there, she and Zac formed a friendship and he invited her to open for his band when he toured.
“I have been opening for Zac from wing shacks to stadiums for years,” she said. “I saw all the crowds, and I saw everything growing for him. I was working outside of my shows with him to bring my own fan base as well¦.His help and encouragement, getting me in front of his fans and what I did on my own, started to get me noticed.
When Zac approached me on Southern Ground, I just didn’t see a better place to be. It was a no brainer.”
Leigh hopes that the songs on her album that reflect both struggles and joys will inspire listeners to reach for their dreams, too.
“I want people [who hear my music] to think ‘I am so glad that was written because that’s just the way I feel'”, she said. “I want people to take some of the life lessons away, too. There are some unfortunate things going on in some of my songs and I’m saying ‘Go out and try to grab your dreams by the tail.'”
Find out more about Sonia Leigh, her music and upcoming concert on her Web site.