Backstage at the Canadian Country Music Awards, Carolyn Dawn Johnson was nervously waiting to perform for industry insiders for the first time in years.
“When the music started up, my heart started pumping and I thought, OK, here we go — back into the swing of things,” recalled Johnson, who doesn’t remember her televised performance last month, but felt “it was over in a blink of an eye.”
The country singer/songwriter, who took a nearly four-year hiatus from her career to raise her two young children, does remember getting a nice reception, however — which was a relief, because she wasn’t sure what kind of welcome to expect.
Being forgotten or eclipsed by younger up-and-coming country music stars “is the chance you take” whenever you take a prolonged break, said Johnson, who performs on Thursday at Red Deer’s Memorial Centre.
The Grande Prairie native, who first rose to fame by co-writing the 1999 hit Single White Female, finally released her fourth album, Love Rules, earlier this year, after giving birth twice.
Johnson was in the recording studio three weeks after having her daughter, Abigail, who is now two. “I was completely oblivious to what I would be in for,” admitted the 39-year-old, who faced so many domestic distractions she couldn’t finish the album before getting pregnant again.
While industry officials suggested it would be good if she completed the recording before giving birth to son Bennett, who is now eight months old, Johnson believes they understood her response: “I don’t know if that can happen. I have to put (the pregnancy) first right now.”
She has no regrets, saying “I let love rule my life” — hence the album title.
The title track was actually written before Johnson was a wife or mother. “I was pretending to be someone who was a mom and now it’s applicable to my life.”
Another song that people assume is autobiographical is I Just Want My Life Back — but Johnson said the tune has nothing to do with being buried in dirty diapers.
It was inspired by a friend who was separating from her unfaithful husband. “She was telling me, ‘Everything I’ve ever known, I don’t know it anymore . . . I just want my life back.’
“I just thought it was so sad, I have to write about that,” said Johnson, who put herself in her friend’s shoes, made up some details and came up with a heart-breaking love-gone-wrong song.
Johnson’s fans won’t find tunes about her kids on this album. The singer said she’s written some lullabies, children’s songs and even a song about a mother’s love, but didn’t think they would fit well on this CD. “At some point, I’ll record them,” she said.
In the meantime, both of her young ones are going on Johnson’s upcoming tour, thanks to her “amazing” real estate broker husband coming along to take care of them.
The couple recently did a test run of travelling with the kids — with mixed results.
Both over-tired children ended up howling in a hotel room one night.
“They just lost it and cried and cried. We just started giggling, because there wasn’t anything we could do about it,” said Johnson. “I’m sure all the other hotel guests were calling the front desk and asking to be moved. . . . ”
Her Alberta tour will be done on a bus, “so we’ll be able to create more of a home environment.”
Tickets to the 7:30 p.m. concert are $45.80 from the Black Knight Ticket Centre.
lmichelin@www.reddeeradvocate.com