Lovin’ This Day is a song country singer Michelle Wright’s been thinking of recording for the last 15 years.
It’s about appreciating the brevity of a single ray of light — or rainbow that lights up the sky for a few brilliant moments before fading away.
“It’s about how everything I love is gone in time,” she said — but that doesn’t mean you love it any less.
Wright is set to finally record Lovin’ This Day — a tune she didn’t write, but feels as if she could have. After 36 years in the music business, Wright feels she’s lived long enough, and experienced enough losses — including the deaths of three of her five dogs last year — that the bittersweet song has taken on a special meaning.
“I’ve had a challenging life,” admitted the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame-er, who performs on Saturday Sept. 9 at the Ol’ MacDonald’s Music Festival near Erskine.
Wright was raised by a teenage mother on a farm in Merlin, Ont., “so I know what it is to work out in the field 16 hours a day…”
The 56-year-old had been set to pursue a career in counselling the mentally disabled when she was sidelined by her passion for music. Singing country songs, after three decades and multiple changes in the music industry, remains her calling.
“Music is the greatest gift I have, next to my husband. I love it. I always have, and I always will,” said the singer, who charted hits throughout the 1990s. These include Take It Like a Man, Nobody’s Girl, One Time Around, He Would Be Sixteen, One Good Man, and Guitar Talk.
Since her last album, Strong, was recorded in 2013, Wright is going back into the studio to create tunes to be released to radio in 2018.
The Nashville-based artist recently signed on with a new management company that’s encouraging the release of singles rather than full albums of material. It makes sense to Wright in this digital age, when most songs are individually purchased through iTunes.
The “details” might have changed in the music biz over the years, but the fundamentals are the same, she said. “You have to have passion and love for the music. You have to stamina and a strong work ethic…
“This isn’t always the easiest row to hoe, but I feel lucky to do what I do. I absolutely feel privileged.”
For more information about the Sept. 8-10 Ol’ MacDonald’s Music Festival, also featuring Tim Hus, Gary Fjellgaard, Valdy, Steve Arsenault and others, please visit www.olmacdonalds.com/festival.html.
lmichelin@reddeeradvocate.com