Q&A: Country Siren Wendy Newcomer Lives A Double Life

Wendy Newcomer has become accustomed to life on both sides of the microphone. Her journalism career has taken her from editorial positions at Cashbox and Country Weekly magazines to her current gig as editor for the Great American Country TV network’s website, gactv.com.

The Asheboro, N.C., native is a fine writer and editor, but an even better singer—her searingly soulful, slow-burn way with a country song is amply demonstrated on her just-released self-titled debut. We lured Newcomer to a darkened corner of Rumba for a glass of red wine and a candid chat about what it’s like to cover Nashville’s top music-makers while making it yourself.

As an artist, is it weird to write about other artists?

I wouldn’t say it’s weird. It’s been a good education, because I’ve seen what to do and what not to do. And who wouldn’t want to sit down with their musical heroes and talk to them? I got to go on the road with Waylon Jennings. I wish I could have been singing backup, but at least I was writing about him. He and Jessi [Colter, Jennings’ wife] were so welcoming. And one of the last stories I did for Country Weekly was on Patty Loveless, who’s at the top of the list of my favorite singers. I had interviewed her before, so she told her publicist, “Why don’t I just come to Wendy’s house?” I cleaned my house like a banshee for, like, six hours the night before. I was so nervous.

Did she comment on the cleanliness of the house?

She did say she liked my bathroom. I thought about roping off the couch cushion she sat on, but I figured that would be too stalker-ish.

How do you juggle a day job and a musical career?

It takes discipline. Especially if writing is part of the job, sometimes the last thing you want to do at night is write [songs]. It’s two different things, but they’re similar—if I’m writing an article, there’s certainly a creative process and a craft that goes along with that, just like there’s a craft to songwriting. I’ll get these creative spurts and stay up late at night writing songs. I currently have 30 messages on my answering machine, and they’re all song snippets. (laughs)

You wrote or co-wrote six songs on the new album. What tends to be your favorite topic to write about?

Um … relationships gone wrong? (laughs)

There is definitely that theme running through your oeuvre.

Is there? (laughs) I am drawn to sad songs. I just feel like I can relate to those more. I don’t enjoy singing ditties. It’s fulfilling, artistically, to sink your teeth into a meaty song. I’m proud to say that I’m still friends with most of the guys I have dated. Even though the relationships didn’t work out and it was sad at the time, I got some great songs out of the pain. It’s healing to write about that stuff.

Is it strange to put your personal experiences into a song knowing that other people will hear it?

No, it’s easier for me to sing about something that’s hurtful than to talk about it. I find that it comforts me to sing about it, because the act of singing is comforting for me.

Speaking of sad songs, you cover a rather devastating one called “Killing the Blues” on the album. How did you discover that song?

The guy who plays bass for Chris Isaak, Roly Salley, wrote that. I heard it on a 1994 Shawn Colvin record called Cover Girl. I was going through a breakup at the time, and it was my theme song for weeks, so I started putting it into my shows. I love music that’s plainspoken. “Killing the Blues” cuts right to your heart, but it’s poetic and beautiful in the language that it uses. “You want me to find what I’ve already had”—it’s just … I mean, I still tear up every time I sing it. It’s very hard to sing and cry at the same time, I’ve discovered. (laughs) But it’s just so moving.

Be sure to swing by Wendy Newcomer’s MySpace page and listen to some of her music and watch the YouTube video below for a live performance of “Poison Rose.” This is good stuff.

A big thanks goes out to Chris Neal for contributing this post to The 9513. Disclosure: Chris worked with Wendy at Country Weekly a few years ago which is where he got to know her music. Talking about Wendy, Chris says she’s “wildly talented, and I’m sort of evangelical about her.”