LeAnn Rimes Embraces Her Untamed Side on ‘the wild,’ Featuring Mickey Guyton, Sheila E.
Tina Benitez-Eves
Everything is lower-case. That’s precisely how LeAnn Rimes wanted to present the title and songs of her upcoming album god’s work (EverLe Records via Thirty Tigers/ The Orchard), out Sept. 16, despite initial criticism for her spelling of a higher power with a small “g.” “If we’re arguing about why the ‘g’ is or isn’t […]
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American Songwriter
Everything is lower-case. That’s precisely how LeAnn Rimes wanted to present the title and songs of her upcoming album god’s work (EverLe Records via Thirty Tigers/ The Orchard), out Sept. 16, despite initial criticism for her spelling of a higher power with a small “g.” “If we’re arguing about why the ‘g’ is or isn’t capitalized, we’re missing the whole point,” said Rimes. “It’s so important for us to focus on the messages, rather than the nuances.”

The fifth single, following the release of the recent piano-led ballad “how much the heart can hold” and a more reggae-slanted “the only,” featuring Ziggy Marley, Ben Harper, and Ledisi, “the wild,” features vocals by Mickey Guyton and percussion by Sheila E., and finds Rimes elevating the more uninhibited sides of her femininity.

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“My new album as a whole looks at the duality of life, the light, and the dark, and I believe that is most apparent in ‘the wild,’” shared Rimes. “The song is about the patriarchal world that has shaped us as a society, especially women… the silencing and fracturing of ourselves in order to fit into the pretty and polite societal box, throughout generations.”

Written and produced by Rimes and longtime collaborator Darrell Brown, who worked on the entire album together, Sheila E.’s tribal drum-and-percussive rhythms drive Rimes’ and Guyton’s chanting vocals, laying out the clear sentiment of the lyrics—the persecution of the woman, the burning has gone on for too fucking long, the virgin is shattered, her blood on the door, she can’t claim the lover without claiming the whore.

“It’s a battle cry to unite women to reclaim every part of our truest nature and no longer allow our wild, our ‘unholy’ to be ignored, shamed and rejected,” added Rimes. “It is full of rage, the kind of rage that calls us home, rage that ignites change and says, ‘I have been here all along, waiting for you to return to your wholeness.’ And I couldn’t be more excited to have such strong, kindhearted, ‘wild’ women featured alongside me. Mickey Guyton and Sheila E. helped make this track come alive.”

Rimes is continuing her the story…so far tour in support of god’s work and the 25th anniversary as a recording artist and 26th anniversary of her debut Blue, which will run through the end of September.

the story…so far Tour Dates

July 15th – Indianapolis, IN – Rock the Ruins at the Vogue Outdoors

July 16th – New Buffalo, MI – Four Winds Casino Resort – Silver Creek Event Center

July 22nd – Bend, OR – Athletic Club of Bend

July 23rd – Jacksonville, OR – Britt Pavilion

July 24th – San Francisco, CA – Stern Grove Festival

August 27th – Palmer, AK – ConocoPhillips Borealis Theatre

September 4th – Austin, TX – The Long Center For The Performing Arts

September 9th – Champaign, IL – Virginia Theatre

September 10th – Bowler, WI – North Star Mohican Casino

September 11th – Eau Claire, WI – The Pablo Center at the Confluence

September 24th – Camp Verde, AZ – Cliff Castle Casino

Photo: Norman Seeff / Sunshine Sachs