During the 2000s, Gretchen Wilson was undoubtedly one of the biggest stars in Nashville. Her album “All Jacked Up” even peaked at number one on the Billboard 200. She scored three straight number-one albums on the Hot Country Albums. The native of Illinois also garnered ten nominations for Grammy Awards, winning Best Female Country Vocal Performance for “Redneck Woman.”
Wilson said that she was only expressing her reality in the lyrics of the popular song, one that many other women could probably identify with but weren’t hearing in other country songs at the time, in an interview with the Los Angeles Times. She said, “A redneck woman is hard-working, she’s raising a family and holding down a job at the same time and is proud of who she is, no matter what.”
Wilson’s success started to decline at the end of the decade when she founded her record label, Redneck Records, after leaving Sony’s Columbia Nashville. She has never even approached the top of a chart, and the Grammys panel hasn’t acknowledged her since 2011. What happened to the former favorite of country music, then? Wilson is still performing the bold country songs that created her reputation, and she is unafraid of who she is despite having experienced her fair share of controversy. This is a brief account of her recent life.
The country singer subsequently admitted that she wasn’t prepared for the high-octane lifestyle that her small-town girl life abruptly changed into after she shot to stardom. In an interview with The Boot, Gretchen Wilson claimed that she had lived her entire life anticipating her big break. In actuality, though, she wasn’t as ready for it as she had believed. Everything happened so quickly: she was slated to be the next Shania Twain and landed a big record deal.
She traveled constantly for twelve years, never taking a break from her tours, and never had time to herself. In addition, she disclosed that on one journey, they crossed the international date line three times in a little over a week, although she was unsure of the exact day each time. And then burnout struck. Wilson said she needed time off for herself since she was physically and vocally exhausted.
She took a much-needed break after releasing two albums in 2013: her first Christmas album, Christmas in My Heart, and a compilation of her songs, Right on Time and Rock Covers. Wilson claims that she was aware of her good fortune at the time, as not many artists could afford to take such a long sabbatical. At the same time, she saw that the period not only provided her with space to reflect, heal, and rekindle her creativity but also allowed her to catch up with her daughter. She did miss a lot of her daughter’s life because she was a single mother on the road all the time. She therefore enjoyed her life and permitted herself to rest up from her weariness for a period of two to three years.
Where is Gretchen now?
Gretchen Wilson’s life has changed significantly since she took a break from work. Her body had time to heal, and her daughter had already started college. Therefore, she returned to the recording studio and produced a brand-new album titled Ready to Get Rowdy, which she dropped on June 16, 2017. She collaborated with fellow songwriters Desmond Child and Marti Frederiksen, who have all previously worked with well-known stars in the music business, concentrating on her songwriting for this one.
However, a few years had gone by, and she was nervous to perform again. She yet wanted the live performance with all of its highs and emotions, and the excitement persisted. She missed the audience too, singing the same lines back to her.
However, Gretchen Wilson’s comeback was unfortunately somewhat delayed in 2018 when she was placed under arrest following an altercation with a fellow traveler on a commercial flight from Washington, D.C. to Connecticut. She was given a $1,000 bond and charged with breach of peace.
During her childhood, Gretchen Wilson was a resident of Pocahontas, an Illinois tiny town with about eight hundred residents. The performer was thrown into the spotlight after winning a Grammy Award and reaching the top of the charts, and she probably went through a severe case of culture shock. In a 2017 interview, the singer said that she found it difficult to adjust. She said,
“I spent my whole life looking for that moment, but as prepared as I thought I was, I wasn’t. It happened so fast. I had a major label deal at the time, and I think that they thought that I was the next Shania Twain.”
“There was one trip that, I think, we crossed the International Date Line three times in a week and a half. I didn’t know what day it was.”
Wilson had to balance her music career with parenthood after giving birth to her daughter Gracie in 2000, which added to the difficulty of the situation. The beloved country music star admitted that taking her kids on tour with her was a certain way to cause chaos, saying, “Can you imagine flying to Australia and worrying where the Ovaltine and diapers and stuff like that are? It was kind of nutty in the beginning.”
Gretchen Wilson received five nominations for the Country Music Association Awards during the 2000s, and she was named Female Vocalist of the Year in 2005. However, the event ignored the Tennessee native for the next ten years. That is, until 2019 when she received an invitation to return to the stage for a celebration of the achievements made by women in country music. Wilson joined performers including Terri Clark, Martina McBride, and co-host Dolly Parton in an all-star medley of some of the best-ever country songs performed by women. Wilson was able to perform her 2004 chart-topping first hit, “Redneck Woman,” during that set.